Water Being Added

[swissarmy]

i have a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium with a catfish/ shark, a albino rainbow shark and 30 shrimp.

every time the water evaporatees i add a gallon of water..maybe 2...
for each gallon i put about 10 drops of start right.....
evert time i add the water..my fish to jolt thier body all around the tank...the jolt forward then stop etc.
whats wrongwith what i am doingto thw water. or is this normal behavior in a change in water?

 

[-germ-]

Do you match the water temp before adding your top-ups?
How recently did you add the fish? Maybe they are just nervous?

 

[swissarmy]

..no i dont check the water temps....and i got he fish almost 3 weeks ago.

 

[Tolak]

How long has the tank been running, and what species & amount of fish are in it?

Unless you are adding really warm water to the tank, a couple gallons in a 55 shouldn't pose a problem. I've dropped the water temperature intentionally plenty of times, this is a common procedure used to induce fish to spawn. I've added 5 gallons of 45F water to a 55 full of angels without a problem.

The behavior you are seeing may be caused by the sudden water flow more than anything, I really wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[rdd1952]

You should never top off a tank. When water evaporates, it leaves all the impurities behind so topping off allows the levels to build. Just do weekly water changes. that will remove impurites and keep those at a proper level and still refill the tank.

 

[Tolak]

I wouldn't say you should never top off a tank, but you should never use topping off as an alternative to weekly water changes. With a tank that is not covered as to seal it tightly you will have more evaporation, especially in a situation with a lower indoor humidity.

I tried running a couple of 10's, one sealed week with diffuser panel, one with eggcrate to prevent fish from jumping. In a week the sealed tank lost less than 1/4", the unsealed tank lost over an inch. This is in my fishroom that has a rather high indoor humidity, I imagine in a less humid situation it would be worse. Without a doubt low water levels with a hob filter makes for plenty of racket, adding a couple of gallons to reduce this noise shouldn't hurt anything in a 55, provided you are doing weekly water changes.

I've seen pics of open topped planted tanks, which look beautiful, but must have evaporation problems, especially considering some of the high wattage lighting being used.

 

[Meds081603]

Im with rdd, regular water changes eliminate the need for topping off anyway.