Large Reef Aquarium Humidity Ventilation.

[JaysLittleOcean]

My wife and I recently closed on a new home and after the kitchen remodel she has signed off on allowing me to have the aquarium of my dreams... with one caveat. She has read numerous horror stories of humidity issues with aquariums in excess of 300 gallons. Since my aquarium will be a minimum of 1,000 gallons in the display alone located in a remodeled basement she obviously has some concerns and would like to prevent me from ruining the house. Those who have owned and operated large aquariums, what were your experiences with humidity?

 

[iced98lx]

It is 100% a factor you need to plan for ahead of time and put in a system to remediate the evaporation of such a large tank up front. I highly suggest you work with an HVAC contractor who has experience in something similar (such as systems for indoor pools or indoor hot tub rooms). Show him your evaporation calculations and desired humidity levels in the room and work together to find a good solution that works in harmony with the rest of your houses HVAC system.

Many options including very large dehumidifier systems, air exchangers, vent fans etc. A lot of it depends on your geographical location and weather patterns. If the outside air is typically very humid an air exchanger isn't much good for example.

In short, your wife isn't wrong to worry but if you plan ahead you can do it effectively and not have problems.

 

[Chriss614]

Make sure to make a build thread! I agree with the previous post completely. It's be a shame to ruin your newly finished basment with humidity.

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[dave.m]

It's not just your display tank you need to be thinking of as regards venting excess humidity. Your sumps and refugia in the fishroom that supports the display tank also need to be vented directly outside to avoid all the problems that high humidity can bring to the interior of your house.

Dave.M

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

It is 100% a factor you need to plan for ahead of time and put in a system to remediate the evaporation of such a large tank up front. I highly suggest you work with an HVAC contractor who has experience in something similar (such as systems for indoor pools or indoor hot tub rooms). Show him your evaporation calculations and desired humidity levels in the room and work together to find a good solution that works in harmony with the rest of your houses HVAC system.

Many options including very large dehumidifier systems, air exchangers, vent fans etc. A lot of it depends on your geographical location and weather patterns. If the outside air is typically very humid an air exchanger isn't much good for example.

In short, your wife isn't wrong to worry but if you plan ahead you can do it effectively and not have problems.

I appreciate the feedback. Well the basement and the house are not extremely humid from what I can tell within the short amount of time we have owned the home. I actually had to have a larger whole house humidifier put in place because I kept ruining servers and other electrical equipment due to static electricity. The whole house humidifier was reading 18% to 20% humidity sometime lower if the humidifier was not running. But The home previous home owner had two of these air exchangers/ humidity control systems installed to include the basements square footage in the sale of the home. So you can say the reef gods have looked down upon me. But I was curious to see what others have done to address humidity from their systems.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

Make sure to make a build thread! I agree with the previous post completely. It's be a shame to ruin your newly finished basment with humidity.

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I will make sure to start a build thread shortly. I am looking to take my time so it will be a lengthy wait but hopefully well worth it.

 

[Chriss614]

I will make sure to start a build thread shortly. I am looking to take my time so it will be a lengthy wait but hopefully well worth it.

I'll make sure to follow along.

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[albano]

My wife and I recently closed on a new home...

Are you still in N Westchester ?

 

[tkeracer619]

I depends on where you live.

In colorado I was able to use a hrv since it is almost always below 50% humidity. Much cheaper than a standard dehumidifier.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

Are you still in N Westchester ?

Yes, I am we moved to Mohegan Lake.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

I just checked with the company that installed the air exchange units and they say a single unit can handle a 1,2000 Square foot area and displace 180 cubic feed of air per minute on high.

 

[jh2pizza]

I just had a Fantech HVR installed into our Central system. Pulls the air from the fish room, and replaces the outside tempered air @ 185 CFM. After dealing with Humidity issues for the past 15 yrs, the tank room is no longer hot and the humidity stays around 43%..

Couldn't be happier. However, those things take a lot of Square footage. That unit looks nice.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

Large Reef Aquarium Humidity Ventilation.

I just had a Fantech HVR installed into our Central system. Pulls the air from the fish room, and replaces the outside tempered air @ 185 CFM. After dealing with Humidity issues for the past 15 yrs, the tank room is no longer hot and the humidity stays around 43%..

Couldn't be happier. However, those things take a lot of Square footage. That unit looks nice.

Looks like we might have similar spec system installed for air exchange. Would you mind posting a photograph of your air exchange system? Also how large is your aquarium and what state do you live in. I want to gauge the local climate to see if I will need larger air exchange units for my home.

 

[iced98lx]

Looks like you've got some options and equipment available. Someone smarter than me once said most tanks evaporate 1-4% of total volume a day (http://reefcentral.com/forums//showpost.php?p=16638308&postcount=5) but that is a somewhat complex calculation which you can run yourself involving the humidity level in the room, temperature, etc.

My point is, if you know how much water you will be evaporating into the air it's much easier for an HVAC guy to know how much water they need to get rid of in a day.

 

[benbarfield]

I am building a 125 gallon tank in my finished basement currently. It will be around 250-300 galloon total water volume when it's all finished. It's significantly less water than your system but you can see what I am doing for ventilation on my build thread. I am installing a ventilation system above the tank with an exit out the side of the house. The exhaust fan is the Broan QTXE110 ultra silent bath fan. It will be a continuously running fan but I did install an on off switch for it for maintenance issues. I live in Colorado so humidity isn't a huge deal because it's so dry but in other areas in the country it can ruin everything. I am by no means an HVAC guy but my thread might give you some starting ideas...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2621740
(Do It Yourself forum - My First Tank and Build Process)

Hope this helps a little...

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

I am building a 125 gallon tank in my finished basement currently. It will be around 250-300 galloon total water volume when it's all finished. It's significantly less water than your system but you can see what I am doing for ventilation on my build thread. I am installing a ventilation system above the tank with an exit out the side of the house. The exhaust fan is the Broan QTXE110 ultra silent bath fan. It will be a continuously running fan but I did install an on off switch for it for maintenance issues. I live in Colorado so humidity isn't a huge deal because it's so dry but in other areas in the country it can ruin everything. I am by no means an HVAC guy but my thread might give you some starting ideas...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2621740
(Do It Yourself forum - My First Tank and Build Process)

Hope this helps a little...

Thanks for chiming in. I definitely will be reviewing your thread. It's funny my HVAC guy just called me a little while ago to come perform service on the AC for the spring and summer. Looks like He is going to be in for a lot of questions when he is here.