Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

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nineball said:
Since I have the ability, due to the investment in dedicated HVAC, HRV and air conditioning, and I have the luxury of being able to pick and choose my room temp and humidity for my fish room separate from the house environment.

Ideally, what should my room temperature be and what should the humidity be?

Peter
Click to expand...

I'm not speaking from direct experience with a fish room, but theory lends the following advice...

With higher humidity in the room, there will be a slower rate of evaporation from exposed water surface area because of the higher vapor pressure. This doesn't mean turn it into a sauna, but I would not set the HVAC on active, full-strength dehumidification duty unless it is absolutely needed to counter condensation problems (and long-term mold/mildew problems if left unchecked, but IIRC your room was well-sealed before being finished).

Having dealt with a flooded living room and running a small dehumidifier before, I can tell you these things are highly effective at removing removing a LOT of vapor from the air. It will be constantly fighting with your top-off if set too aggressively, so to save some water and avoid unnecessarily frequent top-off, there will probably be a sweet spot on the humidity setting. My guess is it will be several weeks of trial end error to get it just right. I would not want to see droplets forming anywhere (except maybe a cold window/chilled pipe), but it will always be at least a bit humid.

Concerning temperature, warmer rather than colder- high 70's, I would imagine. Relatively cold surfaces in the room due to chilly air will encourage condensation of the warm vapor coming from the tank systems.

Just my two cents!
 
heisenberg said:
I'm not speaking from direct experience with a fish room, but theory lends the following advice...

With higher humidity in the room, there will be a slower rate of evaporation from exposed water surface area because of the higher vapor pressure. This doesn't mean turn it into a sauna, but I would not set the HVAC on active, full-strength dehumidification duty unless it is absolutely needed to counter condensation problems (and long-term mold/mildew problems if left unchecked, but IIRC your room was well-sealed before being finished).

Having dealt with a flooded living room and running a small dehumidifier before, I can tell you these things are highly effective at removing removing a LOT of vapor from the air. It will be constantly fighting with your top-off if set too aggressively, so to save some water and avoid unnecessarily frequent top-off, there will probably be a sweet spot on the humidity setting. My guess is it will be several weeks of trial end error to get it just right. I would not want to see droplets forming anywhere (except maybe a cold window/chilled pipe), but it will always be at least a bit humid.

Concerning temperature, warmer rather than colder- high 70's, I would imagine. Relatively cold surfaces in the room due to chilly air will encourage condensation of the warm vapor coming from the tank systems.

Just my two cents!
Click to expand...

Seems like sound advice to me. Maybe someone with an HVAC background can chime in with a good starting point.
 
Rizup said:
Seems like sound advice to me. Maybe someone with an HVAC background can chime in with a good starting point.
Click to expand...

heisenberg said:
I'm not speaking from direct experience with a fish room, but theory lends the following advice...

With higher humidity in the room, there will be a slower rate of evaporation from exposed water surface area because of the higher vapor pressure. This doesn't mean turn it into a sauna, but I would not set the HVAC on active, full-strength dehumidification duty unless it is absolutely needed to counter condensation problems (and long-term mold/mildew problems if left unchecked, but IIRC your room was well-sealed before being finished).

Having dealt with a flooded living room and running a small dehumidifier before, I can tell you these things are highly effective at removing removing a LOT of vapor from the air. It will be constantly fighting with your top-off if set too aggressively, so to save some water and avoid unnecessarily frequent top-off, there will probably be a sweet spot on the humidity setting. My guess is it will be several weeks of trial end error to get it just right. I would not want to see droplets forming anywhere (except maybe a cold window/chilled pipe), but it will always be at least a bit humid.

Concerning temperature, warmer rather than colder- high 70's, I would imagine. Relatively cold surfaces in the room due to chilly air will encourage condensation of the warm vapor coming from the tank systems.

Just my two cents!
Click to expand...

Based on this very logical view of life in the fish room I am going to set the temp at 78 F and 60 % humidity. If there are no consequences and no objection from the peanut gallery including Peter's 'fish room ladies' then thats what the temp and Humidity will be.

Peter
 
my fish room runs 78 to 80 F and 55 to 60% humidity I have about a 300 gallon system in there and it evaporates about 5 gallons a day. I don't use a chiller just fans on the water surface when the tank temp rises to 80.5 F
My tank stays 78 to 81 F
Terry
 
Further to your decision - At 78F and 60% RH you can expect condensation to occur on any surface which is 63F or less. In a basement the earth surrounding your foundation is on average 55F so if the fish room is on an exterior wall just make sure it is a finished and insulated product.
 
canlax said:
Further to your decision - At 78F and 60% RH you can expect condensation to occur on any surface which is 63F or less. In a basement the earth surrounding your foundation is on average 55F so if the fish room is on an exterior wall just make sure it is a finished and insulated product.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much canlax. It is not on an exterior wall and it is insulated for moisture/acoustics and temp. I have not seen any condensation on the marble walls or floor except for the aforementioned flood. I guess that could be classified as extreme condensation! :hmm3:

Peter
 
killerbee181 said:
my fish room runs 78 to 80 F and 55 to 60% humidity I have about a 300 gallon system in there and it evaporates about 5 gallons a day. I don't use a chiller just fans on the water surface when the tank temp rises to 80.5 F
My tank stays 78 to 81 F
Terry
Click to expand...

How you deal with the evaporation?
 
Rizup said:
How you deal with the evaporation?
Click to expand...

i have an exhaust fan that is turned on by a humidistat when it gets to 60% humidity the fan kicks on and sucks the air right out. In the winter i will get condensation on the garage door. But other then that i have no problems other then things like to rust much fast in there. My garage door has 2" of foam on it and it still condenses in the cold but in florida thats a month at the most.
Terry
 
killerbee181 said:
i have an exhaust fan that is turned on by a humidistat when it gets to 60% humidity the fan kicks on and sucks the air right out. In the winter i will get condensation on the garage door. But other then that i have no problems other then things like to rust much fast in there. My garage door has 2" of foam on it and it still condenses in the cold but in florida thats a month at the most.
Terry
Click to expand...

Awesome. How long does it have to run normally? Just curious, how quickly can it cycle the room air and how big on an area is it? Just getting ideas for down the road :)
 
Rizup said:
Awesome. How long does it have to run normally? Just curious, how quickly can it cycle the room air and how big on an area is it? Just getting ideas for down the road :)
Click to expand...

Hydroponic stores have nice humidistat & temperature controllers and quiet exhaust fans. I used a humidistat controller with a 200 CFM fan on a 600 gallon tank (upper cabinet) and it didn't come on that often. The three 400 watt lights burned off a lot of the humidity. I ran the exhaust straight outside but it really should be run into a heat recovery unit (HRV). Recyling the air into a garage is a good compromise as long as it doesn't get too humid :)

BTW it might be a little more comfortable working at 76˚ rather than 78. It also takes some load off of the chiller. It's easy enough to change.
 
j-dizzle said:
Great to see water in the tank peter! sorry to hear about the leak better now than later i guess...
Click to expand...

Thanks j-dizzle, it is true actually, the flood has taught me a lot and I am now going to be better prepared than ever for 'the great one' should it ever occur.

Peter
 
mr.wilson said:
Hydroponic stores have nice humidistat & temperature controllers and quiet exhaust fans. I used a humidistat controller with a 200 CFM fan on a 600 gallon tank (upper cabinet) and it didn't come on that often. The three 400 watt lights burned off a lot of the humidity. I ran the exhaust straight outside but it really should be run into a heat recovery unit (HRV). Recyling the air into a garage is a good compromise as long as it doesn't get too humid :)

BTW it might be a little more comfortable working at 76˚ rather than 78. It also takes some load off of the chiller. It's easy enough to change.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure Mr. Wilson. The only folks spending an inordinate amount of time in the fish room are the Bros Grimm and the Peter's fish room ladies. One of the groups will definitely NOT be overdressed!!!!

Seriously though, one thing I have noticed since I started to activate all the systems is that since none of the walls are connected to the exterior and with all the forms of insulation with the interior finished in marble the temp appears to be very, very stable. I may have lucked in with the design in the sense that the entire room appears to function as a giant chiller. We just might have a winning design Mr. Wilson, a best practice that others might benefit from when it comes to fish room design............time and a web cam will tell.

Peter
 
killerbee181 said:
i have an exhaust fan that is turned on by a humidistat when it gets to 60% humidity the fan kicks on and sucks the air right out. In the winter i will get condensation on the garage door. But other then that i have no problems other then things like to rust much fast in there. My garage door has 2" of foam on it and it still condenses in the cold but in florida thats a month at the most.
Terry
Click to expand...

Florida, Florida......... Terry, to a Canadian, the pearly white gates to heaven lie just outside Orlando. Florida, how perfect is that. A few breezy days and no snow........you guys have it soo good!

Peter
 
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