# open top aquariums and evaporation/water damage



## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

How much you lose to evaporation depends on temperature, relative humidity, etc. I lose about 1/2 gallon a day from a 65 gallon in the winter. My tank sits about a foot from the wall and I have never had any issue with damage or mold from humidity. If the tank butts right up against the wall, that may be a different story.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

Sharkfood said:


> If the tank butts right up against the wall, that may be a different story.


I had considered putting up a plexiglass backing to the wall so as to protect from this. 



Sharkfood said:


> How much you lose to evaporation depends on temperature, relative humidity, etc. I lose about 1/2 gallon a day from a 65 gallon in the winter. My tank sits about a foot from the wall and I have never had any issue with damage or mold from humidity.


The prospect of replacing lost water doesn't bother me, as it will undoubtedly be a planted tank regular maintenance will be a necessity. Does it make the whole room have an unpleasant odor or stickiness to it. I'd like to do this in my bed room, its relatively well ventilated at the moment. 

If my house is typically 70 plus or minus 4 degrees depending on the season would a 74 degree tank be ok or will it simply be too cold for most of the plants???


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I have a canopy on my 75 but usually keep the lids off for ease of maintenance, etc. I lose 1/2 to 1 gallon a day and have never had any issues. I would imagine if the tank were in a small room without good ventilation then you could have issues though.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

Thanks, this is all very encouraging. I'm just considering my mom and how her 55gallon caused water damage on her wall. Then again there are allot of reasons for that. I will probably put up a splash board of sorts behind my tank. I'll hang the light from the ceiling, it will likely be a DIY light.


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## Kyrol (Feb 24, 2012)

My 125 spends most of the time with the glass tops off. As long as there is air movement in the room you'll be fine.


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## Rev_jim_jones (Sep 25, 2011)

I lost between 5-10 gallons a week from my Open top 75 no real difference in house humidity with a C/A system.


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## jmowbray (Dec 20, 2009)

My bedroom is roughly 14x14 I have an 8 gallon and a 72 gallon both are open top. I have never had any issues order or stickiness. I also have two pineapple bushes and a lemon and lime tree in there also. During cold winters I will get a little bit of condensation on the window but I just put a towel on the sill and it's fine.


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

keep an eye on your humidity depending on location. my 55g in the basement, open topped, drove the humidity up to 40-50! this resulted in mold growing on everything down there.

however, if you've a space with windows, it shouldnt be an issue


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## zonamav (Feb 27, 2004)

I had an open top 125 gallon for several years, never any problems. Granted it is arizona with very low humidity here. Had about 5 gallons a week if not more, lost. 

If you think about humidifier systems, they go through multiple gallons of water a day so I can't imagine a tank causing lots of problems unless you live in a high humidity area. If so may want to investigate a dehumidification system.

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

is it going in a big room or a small room?

i loved my open top 40b when i lived in a house with forced hot air. the tank would help bring the humidity up because the forced hot air is sooo damn dry.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

I got 4 open-top tanks, from 65G to 4G - no smell, mold, or any other issues. I do lose a lot to evaporation, especially under hot lights, about 1g from a 40B every couple of days.

The bonus is that you do not have to buy a humidifier. More $$ left for another open-top tank


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## xxxSHyXAxxx (Mar 16, 2011)

OVT said:


> I got 4 open-top tanks, from 65G to 4G - no smell, mold, or any other issues. I do lose a lot to evaporation, especially under hot lights, about 1g from a 40B every couple of days.
> 
> The bonus is that you do not have to buy a humidifier. More $$ left for another open-top tank


yup


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I had an open top tank up for 10 years in coastal California. Humidity in the house would be about 50% much of the time, perfect. I think that helped reduce dry skin, I certainly had fewer colds and such that decade anyway. Lost about a gallon of water a day from the tank and the imperfectly sealed sump. It would be a big pain keeping the water level up in a tank without some sort of reservoir such as a sump. 

When I moved out the old tank there was no mold, no bubbled paint or any other sign a big open tank had been sitting there for a decade. It was sitting on a ceramic tiled floor, on wood or carpet I am quite sure my report would be different! 

The only time the tank smelled was when there was a BGA outbreak early in the tank's history. I actually think the turnover of the water surface cleaned the air rather than the other way around. The tank was in the largest room of the house and we do have the windows open as often as possible.


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

kamikaziechameleon said:


> I had considered putting up a plexiglass backing to the wall so as to protect from this.


You don't need too





kamikaziechameleon said:


> The prospect of replacing lost water doesn't bother me, as it will undoubtedly be a planted tank regular maintenance will be a necessity. Does it make the whole room have an unpleasant odor or stickiness to it. I'd like to do this in my bed room, its relatively well ventilated at the moment.


The added water vapor from evaporation is good for you. If your tank water smells something is wrong. I can put my nose right next to the water and not smell anything.



kamikaziechameleon said:


> If my house is typically 70 plus or minus 4 degrees depending on the season would a 74 degree tank be ok or will it simply be too cold for most of the plants???


It's two easy too give answer. This is something you need to read up on.


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

I have two open tanks, never been an issue. Only time water gets splashed out of the tank is when I stick my hands in it or do a water change and thats usually in front of the tank. They do lose a good bit of water to evaporation but I view it as less water to siphon when I do a water change.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

ok guys this has all been awesome. I'm settled on my foot print, 30 x 60 still working out depth of the tank, I'm currently between 16 and 24, there are allot of factors to discern before resolving this. the height will have a huge impact of how it views in the room as will the stand height another major variable I need to resolve.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

24INCH. unless u are one long armmed person is going to be a pain to plant with. keep that in mind


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

A 24 inch tall, 30 inch deep tank will be almost impossible to plant the back of the tank without half of your body being in the tank.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

I've setup my first to open topped tanks to test out how evaporation is in the room in question. I think I'll be either 16, 18, or 20 inches deep. I really like the 17 inches on my 40 gallon breeder. Check out the experiments:

































The hex is a festae rearing tank and has only fake plants at the moment.


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

I have an open top 125g (w/ 29g sump also open top) in my living room, and a 55g (w/20g sump open top) with no problems. There are no smell issues, no mold issues, evaporation isn't to bad. BTW tanks are about 3 feet apart.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

i have a 29 gallon with a 6 gallon wet/dry sump. no smells, evaporation is about 2 gallons per week

10 gallon has about 1/2 gallon evaporation per week


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

SlammedDC2 said:


> I have an open top 125g (w/ 29g sump also open top) in my living room, and a 55g (w/20g sump open top) with no problems. There are no smell issues, no mold issues, evaporation isn't to bad. BTW tanks are about 3 feet apart.





HD Blazingwolf said:


> i have a 29 gallon with a 6 gallon wet/dry sump. no smells, evaporation is about 2 gallons per week
> 
> 10 gallon has about 1/2 gallon evaporation per week



Thanks for the feed back guys. I'm a bit off from setup as the cost of the tank will probably be 600-800 and the stand 300-400 atleast.


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## bloo (Jan 20, 2010)

I have a 265g open top and have no issues with water damage from that, and have taken no special measures at all. Next to that tank I have a 29g and a 20g both open top. Under the tank I have a 20g, 10g, and 2.5g. In the next room I have a 55g open top.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

bloo said:


> I have a 265g open top and have no issues with water damage from that, and have taken no special measures at all. Next to that tank I have a 29g and a 20g both open top. Under the tank I have a 20g, 10g, and 2.5g. In the next room I have a 55g open top.


That is extremely encouraging.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

Have a 125, 20, 10 and a 5.5 in living room, all open top. The 125 and 20 are 80F, 10 and 5.5 are 75F.

My temp right now in the house is 74F, Humidity 42%, without heat or AC. Outside its 86F.

I noticed the air feels humid when the temp in the house goes up to 78, but who doesn't turn on the AC when the temp goes is 78.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

I add about 5 gallons per week between those two tanks. no visible damage to my walls yet.


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## vincenz (Jan 29, 2012)

One thing good about open-top aquariums is there is no need for humidifiers in the winter.


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## Em85 (Apr 16, 2009)

I have a 210g closed top, 125g open top, 75g open top, 20L closed top and 10g open top. I ended up with mold and black widow spiders (they are attracted to high humidity areas). I bought a dehumidifier and that solved both the problems.


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

I actually settled on a 180 closed top. Reason being I don't want to deal with hanging lights over the tank, or anything like that for now. Ultimately I'll have a rimless open top custom tank but this works best for now.


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

I think your mold and humidity problem will be directly related to how well your home is ventilated. Basements are typically less ventilated than the rest of the home so you're likely to see mold in basements. I have an open top 45 that loses upwards of 3g a week with no mold issues. Of course I live in a very dry arid area. If you were to live in the south or somewhere very humid that might change things a bit. If you run AC in the house that will help cut down on humidity as AC by its nature, de-humidifies the air. AC can also accelerate the evap rate too. I think as long as you have good air movement you'll be fine. 

Wall damage by fish tank is likely caused by splashing issues and not evaporation.


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## brainwavepc.com (Sep 27, 2011)

I have 2x125g, a 55g, 3x15g,a 20g and a 2.5g all open top in a 1500sq foot office with no issues in Oregon, and I keep All my tanks around 76-80


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## jfynyson (Apr 15, 2013)

Tanks in a room don't hold a candle to someone using a humidifer every night !

I have a 135gal stays 78F used to have glass tops but nothing since April and seeing not difference at all. It's built into a wall and about 3" of the wall width is over the front of the tank....granted I have a log home w/ all wood walls so it simply absorbs it like a sponge and you'd never even know it (good thing about having kiln dried products!)


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## kamikaziechameleon (Feb 16, 2012)

Interesting. Ventilation is certainly a problem in this home.


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