Humidity/Fish Room Ventilation Options

[tanglovers]

Hi All,

Wendi and I are locking down the details to hopefully purchase our first home here shortly.

As a result we are looking more into setting up a proper fish room, where this room will be sealed off from the rest of the house in a effort to aid in controlling the humidity. Room will have about 350-400 gallons of water in it to start for now.

Ideas/suggestions I have received.

Exhaust fans hooked up to a humidistat

Dual Core HRV Air Exchanger

Large Dehumidifier

Greenboarding the entire room with a moisture/eater berrier between the green board and the insulation in the wall.

What are your recommendations? At our current condo we have lots of condensation issues with mold by the windows. We do not want any of these issues in our home so want to plan accordingly. What are you guys currently using and how effective is it?

 

[tgunn]

I have a 140g tank with a 100g sump in my basement fish room. Without the tank my humidity ran 30% in the winter. No problems.
With the tank I ran 70% humidity -- all my windows sweat like mad, and I got mold in a corner. NOT good.
I installed a whole home HRV (heat recovery ventilator) and ALL of these problems are a thing of the past.
I ran around 20-30% humidity this winter, had no condensation problems, and no mold in the corner.
I also notice a HUGE improvement in the air quality in general with the HRV. I've also got it hooked up so that it replaces all my bathroom fans. When I have a shower I press a button to kick the HRV into high speed; which is of course nice and silent.
There's a vent near the kitchen and also a vent in the fish room.

All in all the HRV was pricey, but I feel the best option for humidity control.

Tyler

 

[TIMMYE]

One of the best options for ERV/HRV or Air to Air exchangers that I have found is the Broan Guardian Plus. With model nembers that start with "GS". These have a full range of install options, they come as just air to air or air to air with heat recovery. They also have HEPA filters for the incoming air and sperate controll for running the unit. Also cost for these unit compared to summeraire or aprilaire is genrally about 200-600 cheaper for a similar model installed.