Evaporation

**Derricktxm** · 14th Feb 2014, 11:36

Hi guys, i use a fan, but it evaporates my water very fast! 1 week, half the water gone...

SO my question is.... How to refill if the new water not cycled? Cos only have 1 tank and no filter to run the new water with all the conditioners

**felix_fx2** · 14th Feb 2014, 12:40

You don't need fan to cycle, top up can use aged water.

You are not cycling the water but bacteria instead.

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**xuan87** · 14th Feb 2014, 12:51

I use a bucket and an air pump outfitted with an airstone to cycle my water.

**Urban Aquaria** · 14th Feb 2014, 13:05

Very little of the beneficial bacteria live in the tank water, the majority of them live attached to the tank surface, substrate, plants and filter bio-media... so you can just top up the water or do water changes without negatively affecting the tank cycle.

Note that if you just constantly top up water (rather than doing water changes), the tank's TDS level will gradually rise over time, so you have to take note of that, especially for sensitive fishes or shrimps.

**kimkeat** · 17th Feb 2014, 09:48

Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria

Very little of the beneficial bacteria live in the tank water, the majority of them live attached to the tank surface, substrate, plants and filter bio-media... so you can just top up the water or do water changes without negatively affecting the tank cycle.

Note that if you just constantly top up water (rather than doing water changes), the tank's TDS level will gradually rise over time, so you have to take note of that, especially for sensitive fishes or shrimps.

What is TDS? Thanks.

**SunDragon** · 17th Feb 2014, 11:45

TDS is total dissolved solid. Eg of distilled water should be zero. You can also buy a TDS meter from aquarium shop to test your water.

**Urban Aquaria** · 17th Feb 2014, 16:53

Originally Posted by kimkeat

What is TDS? Thanks.

TDS = Total Dissolved Solids... its the measure of all the organic and inorganic materials dissolved in water.

The optimal TDS for fishes and shrimps depend on the species, either softwater (ie. lower TDS) or hardwater (ie. higher TDS). That being said, most fishes and shrimps can adapt to a reasonable range of TDS levels if the changes are slow and gradual... the important thing is to not shift them from low to high TDS or high to low TDS too suddenly as that will adversely affect their osmotic regulation ability and cause problems.

You can read more about TDS and its effects in these links:

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/m...uarium-122027/

http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3480