Is the water in my fish tank evaporating fast?

Question

I just got a 30 gallon fish tank. Over night about 1 gallon of water (if not more) disappeared from the tank. I thought it might be evaporating but that seems like a lot over night. I have a wooden fish stand that only holds up the edges of the fish tank and the middle is not supported with a hollow space about 3 inches from the bottom of the aquarium glass. I thought maybe the water s leaking into this hollow space and not leaking out onto the ground yet. Should I support the bottom of the fish tank? Do I need to increase the temperature of the water to keep it from evaporating?

Answer 1

Unless your tank is very warm, has no cover and it under a fan I would say that more water lose that just evaporation. Check to be sure no water is leaking from the filter. If the outside of the filter housing is wet then you have a leak. If that from over the top of the filter you can adjust the position of the filter to prevent further leakage. If it's from anywhere along the filter you will need to replace the filter.

If you find no leak from the filter and no over flow from there, then I would assume you have a leak in the tank. Move it to a flat location, be sure the outside is perfectly dry, place the tank on some newspaper and carefully fill the tank so that you don't spill any water onto the paper. You should be able to identify a leak within an hour or so. As the tank is new,. I would return it for a replacement instead of attempting a repair.

As long as your stand supports the tank all the way around the edges a support under the glass is not needed.. The bottom glass rests on the bottom frame and is supported on all sides. Any attempt to support the bottom could cause uneven support and therefore cause a leak.

MM

Answer 2

the hotter the water is the faster that is going to evaporate. If there is no hood that is going to evaporate even quicker. My 5g loses a pair of million/2 an inch an afternoon to evaporation. The smaller the tank, the extra subject it is to environmental variations, so something from a heat room to a ray of light could desire to be heating it up. And FYI, all your tanks are too small to maintain fish in. Bettas prefer a minimum of 5g with a heater and clear out, and goldfish prefer a minimum of 20g. the only ingredient that could stay in 3 or 2 gallons is shrimp, and the 1g is purely too small even for that. In this form of small tank you won't be able to perfect clear out it and the temperature would be consistently fluctuating. improve your tank and your water won't evaporate as rapid.

Answer 3

that does sound like your losing alot of water. did you make sure the tank was level when you set it up? aquariums being unlevel is the # 1 reason why they'll start leaking. the uneven distribution of water when add more pressure an individual pane of glass causing the sealant to weaken. sometimes the leaks aren't hardly noticeable. as far as the hollow space in center of stand thats normal with almost all stands. and if you increase the temp. it will only cause the water to evaporate faster. i know during the hotter summer months the water in my tanks does evaporate quicker. hope this helps you.

Answer 4

there should not be a noticable evaporation of water from your tank in one night.

increasing the temp of the water will make it evaporate faster, and could kill your fish.
if there is already a leak- supporting the bottom wont help.

if i were you, id drain the fish tank and get someone to help me move it to see if there is a leak.
otherwise you could end up with a nasty mess on your carpet to clean up if it cracks under the weight of the water.

also, just to be safe, after you have checked it for leaks etc, if it was my tank, i would support the bottom of it. you never know.
.

Answer 5

Sounds like a leak to me. May not be the tank leaking though, could be an external filter.