Saltater Evaporation

Question
I have a 150 Gallon Saltwater Reef Tank with a protein skimmer and an organic filter system. The first couple of month I had to add about a gallon of water every other day. I have had this tank for about 9 months now and as of today I have to add 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of freshwater every day! Is that normal? There are no leaks and everything else seems to be just fine. I just can't believe the amount of water it is loosing every day. I can not even go anywhere after work and stay out late because it will run dry by the time I come home. I do 10% water changes and clean the protein skimmer once a week. The room temerature is set to 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

Answer
Hi Claudia. It is normal to lose quite a bit of water due to evaporation. How much is going to depend on a number of things. The room temperature and water temperature are big factors along with weather you have an open tank and/or sump and how strong of a water flow you have. I typically lose in the 500 gallon system I maintain at work, about five gallons every other day. In my 75 gallon tank at home I have to replace about 1 gallon every day. So what you are seeing is fairly normal and they do make systems with a float valve that you can hook up to your tank that will automatically refill your tank with water from a reservoir when it gets low. They are not hard to install and can save you alot of time.You just need to set up some kind of reservoir. You can look up Aqua Medic Niveaumat automatic float switch to see what I am talking about and there is a storage container made by Tunze that holds a little over seven gallons of water that can be used as a reservoir just to give you some ideas. You will still have to replace the water in the reservoir but you will not have to do it as often.