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scholls22
07/28/2010, 11:29 AM
I am on week two right now with my first tank. I have lost a small ammt of water with evaporation. I was wondering can I used bottled distilled bottle water to top it off? If so, do I need to add salt? Im assuming that I dont, since the salt doesnt evaporate but didnt know for sure?

I have a little bit of pre mixed saltwater that would be enough to top off. Would that cause a problem with the cycle by adding more salt?

sparsons
07/28/2010, 11:33 AM
I'm a Newbie myself, but you should top off evaporated water with plain water - not salt water. Most use RO/DI water. I believe distilled bottled water is fine. Depending on the size of your tank and the humidity of the air in your home, you may lose a lot of water to evaporation. I was losing like 10 gal/week and finally put in a automatic top-off that made my life a lot easier.

Allmost
07/28/2010, 11:35 AM
I am on week two right now with my first tank. I have lost a small ammt of water with evaporation. I was wondering can I used bottled distilled bottle water to top it off? If so, do I need to add salt? Im assuming that I dont, since the salt doesnt evaporate but didnt know for sure?

I have a little bit of pre mixed saltwater that would be enough to top off. Would that cause a problem with the cycle by adding more salt?

you had it right

salt does not evaporate, but water does
so as water evaporates, your salinity will raise.
to bring the salinity back to normal, you need to top off with freshwater with no salt.

you need to keep the salinity as constant as you can.

scholls22
07/28/2010, 11:38 AM
by the way its a 24g nanocube...Im figuring I lost about 2 gallons....I don't have RODI water accessible to me right now. I can get a couple of gallons of distilled water from walmart..I think two gallons would be plenty enough

Allmost
07/28/2010, 11:41 AM
top off faster next time, dont let the water go down that much, top it off nightly.

sparsons
07/28/2010, 11:44 AM
My Walmart sells RO/DI water - you might want to check. But as far as I know distilled water is fine.

scholls22
07/28/2010, 11:50 AM
My Walmart sells RO/DI water - you might want to check. But as far as I know distilled water is fine.

where do you find the RO/DI water at walmart?

Conrad25
07/28/2010, 11:54 AM
Comes in a Blue lable Gallon Milk Jug and I have used it before with much success. So water section by food

Conrad

scholls22
07/28/2010, 12:01 PM
Comes in a Blue lable Gallon Milk Jug and I have used it before with much success. So water section by food

Conrad

how is it labeled?

Mmckibben
07/28/2010, 12:02 PM
get a cheep used RO filter. I got mine for $50 from a local aquarium store.

GhostCon1
07/28/2010, 12:09 PM
where do you find the RO/DI water at walmart?

The big water filter they have near the water bottles. I forget the name of the company on it, but it is RO filtered with UV sterilization as well.