Water evaporating too fast from sump

[reaper78]

Hi all,

I new to this hobby. Really excited to embark on this very interesting and sometimes 'technically" demanding. My tank is in the 'cycle' stage. Was set up last week. Recently i spotted the water level at my sump drop to a staggering 2cm for every 24hrs.......

My sump has a pump for the 'return' water and a dymax skimmer with powerhead. anyone can shed some light into this?? thanks

[ReDDeviLs]

isit leaking?

[reaper78]

isit leaking?

Thanks for the reply, no leak from main tank and sump. checked throughly. But i did had a few problem with the dymax skimmer, i think my particular model require certain water level to work. therefore after much late nite observing i 'draw' out some water from the sump to require it to work. (Too much water level in the sump and it result in the foam from the skimmer cup to 'overflow' and i tried to used cable tie to on the air tube to control the air intake. The dymax skimmer comes with a pump, model is PH1200 and is a second hand from friend.)

btwn my tank is 4ft x 1.5x1.5. the sump is abt 2ft. My gf is complaining dat i spending too much time on the tank rather than on her.....hahaha......

[ReDDeviLs]

Thanks for the reply, no leak from main tank and sump. checked throughly. But i did had a few problem with the dymax skimmer, i think my particular model require certain water level to work. therefore after much late nite observing i 'draw' out some water from the sump to require it to work. (Too much water level in the sump and it result in the foam from the skimmer cup to 'overflow' and i tried to used cable tie to on the air tube to control the air intake. The dymax skimmer comes with a pump, model is PH1200 and is a second hand from friend.)

btwn my tank is 4ft x 1.5x1.5. the sump is abt 2ft. My gf is complaining dat i spending too much time on the tank rather than on her.....hahaha......

its ok common complain by MOST gfs.. haha

[reaper78]

i just called the guy dat i bought the fish tank from. He said: "dat is common to have 2-3cm evaporation everyday especially with the use of dymax or weipro skimmer as the pump is very powerful but the funnel neck which leads to the skimmer cup is too narrow. Solution is to change to another better skimmer or drill a hole at the funnel neck and install a tube to pump out the dirt. Which also means the skimmer cup is as good as useless...

Hmm,.....i still pondering if what he said is true..??

[Jameshong]

i just called the guy dat i bought the fish tank from. He said: "dat is common to have 2-3cm evaporation everyday especially with the use of dymax or weipro skimmer as the pump is very powerful but the funnel neck which leads to the skimmer cup is too narrow. Solution is to change to another better skimmer or drill a hole at the funnel neck and install a tube to pump out the dirt. Which also means the skimmer cup is as good as useless...

Hmm,.....i still pondering if what he said is true..??

Currently, wat is your water temperature?

Do you have chiller?

[peacemaker]

You may need a better skimmer for a 4Ft tank. My Dymax skimmer is using the 1200L/hr pump, and it supports a 1.5Ft nano tank. You will need to fine tune the skimmer so that it doesn't overflow. Get those small air valves to control the air intake.

[reaper78]

Currently, wat is your water temperature?

Do you have chiller?

Temperature is currently 29 to 31C. I just bought a haidea chiller, HC-300A. But i have not installed yet, i am doing step by step. Trying to solve the evporation thingy first. But since you mentioned abt it, i was wondering if i could do without a powerhead for the chiller. Cos beside the return pipe (water back to the tank), is link to another sub-pipe from the return that have a valve, and water is flowing out frm it.

So based on theory, i can hook up a hose from the "in" (Chiller) and link to the sub pipe and another hose for the 'Out" back to the sump w/o a powerhead.

Should be possible rite? The pump for the return pipe can managed up to 5500L/H.

[reaper78]

You may need a better skimmer for a 4Ft tank. My Dymax skimmer is using the 1200L/hr pump, and it supports a 1.5Ft nano tank. You will need to fine tune the skimmer so that it doesn't overflow. Get those small air valves to control the air intake.

Thanks for the reply. The dymax skimmer i using is 2nd hand. The ex-owner used it for his 5ftx2x2 fish tank. i did tune the skimmer (there is a red knob) but later i realize beside tuning it, the water level at my sump cannot be too high...

so i guess it boils down to the water/air intake ratio from the dymax powerhead.

[reaper78]

Temperature is currently 29 to 31C. I just bought a haidea chiller, HC-300A. But i have not installed yet, i am doing step by step. Trying to solve the evporation thingy first. But since you mentioned abt it, i was wondering if i could do without a powerhead for the chiller. Cos beside the return pipe (water back to the tank), is link to another sub-pipe from the return that have a valve, and water is flowing out frm it.

So based on theory, i can hook up a hose from the "in" (Chiller) and link to the sub pipe and another hose for the 'Out" back to the sump w/o a powerhead.

Should be possible rite? The pump for the return pipe can managed up to 5500L/H.

Thanks to all bro for your kind advice. Issue solved after installing the chiller, i set the temp at 25 C.

[Underwater]

Thanks to all bro for your kind advice. Issue solved after installing the chiller, i set the temp at 25 C.

IMO, i think no need to set until that low. Your chiller will kick in very frequent and when electricity bills kept rising, think you may want to consider higher range of 26 to 28 (not sure about SPS as i have not kept before).

[RockyBoy]

IMO, i think no need to set until that low. Your chiller will kick in very frequent and when electricity bills kept rising, think you may want to consider higher range of 26 to 28 (not sure about SPS as i have not kept before).

Yup, frequent kicking in/out will kill the compressor ...

[reaper78]

Yup, frequent kicking in/out will kill the compressor ...

Thank you for the pointer. Alrite, i set the temp to 26C. I remove the dymax skimmer, causing alot of problem. cant seem to get the water/air ratio rite. Bought a prizm skimmer,

and only after buying, saw alot of negative review on it..sigh....but i think is working fine for me....threw in 2 damel fishes. so far it survive for a week but got problem trying

to feed them, everytime i threw in pallets for them, before they could eat, it sink to the bottom and i dont wish to switch on and off the pump as i worried dat i might damage the motor on the long run.

Anyway to overcome this? By the way, since this is my 3rd week,

will it be okay for me to buy supplements and carbon to add in the water?

[Underwater]

i think those hang on prizm skimmer may be a little too small to support yr tank, you may want to check on that.

as for the temp, you can even try 27'C or 28'C.

but dun quite understand why do you need to off the pump when the food sank to the bottom of yr tank? Yrs an overflow with sump tank right? Anyway, damsels are greedy fishes and they will eat those that dropped to the bottom. (Hope you are not using damsels to test yr tank water condition though..., it shld be A,N,N test kits)

cheers

[dachkie]

its ok common complain by MOST gfs.. haha

ya and my gf dump soap into my tank to take revenge last time, red u ever replied to a thread how to shatter a tank few yrs ago

lol that was my gf posting .

[reaper78]

i think those hang on prizm skimmer may be a little too small to support yr tank, you may want to check on that.

as for the temp, you can even try 27'C or 28'C.

but dun quite understand why do you need to off the pump when the food sank to the bottom of yr tank? Yrs an overflow with sump tank right? Anyway, damsels are greedy fishes and they will eat those that dropped to the bottom. (Hope you are not using damsels to test yr tank water condition though..., it shld be A,N,N test kits)

cheers

Based on the printout, the prizm skimmer can handle up to 400 litres? The tank i haf is abt 254 litres. By the way do you guys include the sump size in as part of the overall water volume?

The pellets sank right to the bottom (probably the 'return' water is too strong, tune it to the min. already), anyway the shrimps took care of it. Bought flakes for the damels and they r feeding well now. Yah, haf several test kits, monitering the water perimeters now and then....

[reaper78]

Based on the printout, the prizm skimmer can handle up to 400 litres? The tank i haf is abt 254 litres. By the way do you guys include the sump size in as part of the overall water volume?

The pellets sank right to the bottom (probably the 'return' water is too strong, tune it to the min. already), anyway the shrimps took care of it. Bought flakes for the damels and they r feeding well now. Yah, haf test kits, monitering the water perimeters now and then....

Btwn does anyone knows where i can purchase seachem calcium test kit? i cant seem to find this particular brand....

[Underwater]

it's ok for the pellets to sink to the bottom cos you dun want to have them floating and got washed down into your sump tank at the bottom. Fishes will eat even if the pellets landed on the bottom. Strong water return flow is good for the tank, dun tune to the minimum. As for your calcium testkit, you dun really need it if you are not keeping LPS or SPS.

[reaper78]

it's ok for the pellets to sink to the bottom cos you dun want to have them floating and got washed down into your sump tank at the bottom. Fishes will eat even if the pellets landed on the bottom. Strong water return flow is good for the tank, dun tune to the minimum. As for your calcium testkit, you dun really need it if you are not keeping LPS or SPS.

Thanks for the reply. Eh the yellowtail damsel doesnt eat the pellets dat landed on the sand. Intending to keep LPS or SPS later, not now. So i thought dat i might want to test out the calcium/Kh level first......