anyone use a dehumidifier for enclosed tanks ???

[LCDR Noble]

I have a 300 gallon that is enclosed in the wall. You can view it from the living room but in order to access the tank you have to open a door in the kitchen. Since its closed in its very humid in there and Im starting to see some mold starting to form on the ceiling. Does anyone have a solution for this or experienced this? I have looked at getting a mini dehumidifiers that are used in bathrooms and small rooms to solve this problem. Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. Also I thought I could just have the dehumidifier on a shelf above the tank and add a hose to the collection tank to drain the water right back to the tank.

 

[yagesz]

I use to run a Dehumidifier in my whole house because my lil 90 was putting out so much.

From what I have noticed smaller ones all seem to junk out fast. The bigger ones last longer...

if the wall goes outside you could do an air exhcange.

But a dehumidifier I like.

 

[Meanmike]

I would buy a dehumidifier that has a built in pump and I would definitely not add it back to the tank.

 

[atreis]

See my answer on your other thread asking the same question.

 

[LCDR Noble]

yes I also asked this in another section of the forum because I wanted to see if the reefers with smaller tanks had the same problems.

 

[EDAT6]

I run a dehumidifier in my fish room/utility room.
I have an in-wall setup in the basement viewable from the "man-cave"
The only issue is the heat that is generated by the dehumidifier in the summer.

 

[mm949]

vent the room and ditch the dehumidifier

 

[rbarn]

Yep, and an external vent would be best. Can you run a vent through the ceiling and roof ? You dont want to just exhaust it into the attic.

 

[LCDR Noble]

I can't vent the ceiling easily because its a two story house. I have a 4" hole that is under the tank going to the exterior that I could run a fan on but unsure if that is large enough and will do it.

 

[LCDR Noble]

what size CFM fan would you think would be adequate? the space is about 9 feet long x 3 feet wide and and 10 feet tall.

 

[rbarn]

You have a couple of options

4" might be too small, but 5" would more than enough.

You can try a standard bathroom vent fan and have it exhaust through the hole, but I dont think it will move enough air for you.

I went with the Fantech FG-5XL 5" fan. Made for kitchen exhaust fan, but remote mounted in the attic. If you get the right version it has a built in 0-10v input terminal to control fan speed through something like an Apex controller. They do make a 4" version as well.
http://residential.fantech.net/residential-products/inline-duct-fans/inline-exhaust-fans/

Upon testing it was loud at full speed. So I bought the optional silencer too. This cut the noise down coming out of the suction end of the duct work a lot
http://residential.fantech.net/residential-products/kitchen/silencers/

There are also 4" dryer booster fans
http://residential.fantech.net/residential-products/laundry/dryer-booster-fans/

 

[RJT]

Before you buy a dehumidifier get a dehumidifier monitor first to see what your humidity is first. They are $10

 

[criticalencore]

I have a 550g with about 800g total volume in the bedroom and was good all summer with just a $20 Walmart fan blowing out the window but now that it has gotten cold I had to close the window because it was getting like 20° outside. A couple weeks after I closed the window mold appeared and got a little bigger every couple days. The humidity in my fish room hovers around 80-85°. I bought a ebac cs60 http://www.sylvane.com/ebac-cs60.html?s_cid=cse_gpl&gclid=CL3h7syLkLwCFVFk7AodPxsAPw (hope its okay to post a link). 3 biggest problems with it are it puts air out 2° warmer then it takes in so eventually the room gets pretty hot, it has easily doubled the evaporation of the tank, and its like 7amps to run it so it cost me a little under $1/hour to run it. To top it off, it never shuts off with the humidistat set to 60°.... so I'm gonna tag along and see what people suggest you.

My next plan of attack is going to be a pair of humidistat controlled fans behind a louver so it closes when not on. They move 220cfm and seem to be more reasonable on electricity and initial price http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000N4WOWK (again hope links are ok). I did go back and treat my ceiling and walls with a mold resistant paint in the meantime. Good luck

 

[jjwarfly]

I live in FL and I run one year round. If I dont the windows rain and so do the ac vents in the winter and the relative humidity of the house is around 80....... When the air is dryer I have found you can keep the ac set higher as well.