Heat/humity issues need advice

[nreefer]

Some background on the setup:
I have a 400gal and 180gal tank plumbed into a 300 gal sump in the basement which is in its own airtight and sealed room.
For ventalation I have an HRV that draws air 20% of its air from the 400 gal tank canopy on the main floor and 80% of its air from the sump room. For cooling I have fans that blow onto my open sump which works very well in the fall, winter and early spring.
My problem is though during times of high heat and humidity my tank can't cool efficiently. The sump room in the basement has water dripping off the walls so my thought is that the HRV is just taking hot humid air from the sump room and replacing it with hot humid air from outside so the evaporative cooling action of the fans isn't working.
So my question is which would improve my situation:
#1) Get a dehumidifer for the sump room that would remove the moisture from the air allowing the fans to cool the system, the heat from the dehumidifer would be removed from the sump rooom by the HRV
#2) Get an air conditioner for the sump room to drop the temperature to help assist with cooling
#3) Get an air conditioner/dehumidifier combo to do both the above
#4) Get a chiller to cool the system and the HRV can remove the heat caused by the chiller

Any thoughts?

 

[Kurt03]

how hot does it get in the sump room?
With water driping off the walls i would look into the dehumidifier solution and possibley the ac too. I just have a 55gal with a 30gal sump plumbed to my closet. It is in my room though and the door is shut most of the time. I have a window ac and it seems to do a good job. Just an ac unit will take some water out of the air i beleave but if you have water on the walls then thats probabley to much to handle. dehumidifiers seem to put out alot of heat so if you get that you will prob need something to cool the air too.

 

[nreefer]

It doesn't get too hot because of the HRV it is always balancing with the outdoor temperature over the long term. So it will never get hotter than it is outside. The major thing is getting the evaportative cool back by lowering the humidity.

 

[Kurt03]

well whats the hottest it gets outside where you live? if its not to hot i would just go with the dehumidifier and see how that works. you can plumb a drain on some of them so you dont have to empty buckets. No idea how big of an area you have as your sump room. Also gotta think as the air is dried out you will be pumping humid air right back in from outside. im lost now so i will wait for someone else to help good luck

 

[nreefer]

It gets about 30 degrees celsius. The sump room is about 10 feet by 10 feet. I had the same thought, will the dehumidifer be able to keep up with having constantly humid air dumping in from the outside as well.