Large tank guys I need your help! Fish room questions...

[NanoGurl]

Hey guys, I need your help!

I am having a new house built and there is a perfect room downstairs in the basement to do a nice in-wall tank. The room is cement on foundation so I don't have to worry about weight. I will probably lay tile down around the tank to make it look nice.

The tank size will be 96" x 24" x 24" which is 240g. I also plan to have probably a 75g sump or possibly a 125g. So total water volume between 315g to 365g or so.

Where I need the most help is evaporation/humidity/mold issues. I have been reading a lot of the large threads, and it's been a bit confusing.

The room is unfinished and 15' x 20' big. I have already asked the builder to install DuraRock on the finished room side where the tank will be placed.

The entire house has HVAC. One for the upper two levels, and one for the basement. However, I don't plan to run the basement HVAC at all times, just when needed to maintain a certain temp, so I can't count on that to help with the humidity.

I got a quote for about $1000 to install a fan to the exterior of the house. This is what the quote said:

"Install an exhaust fan with a 3 1/4" x 10" duct to the exterior."

My questions.

1. Would that size fan running 24/7 be sufficient for that size room with the humidity to eliminate mold issues?

2. Would I be better off running a dehumidifier 24/7 instead?

I'm scared to death of the mold problems. Any help/advice would be appreciated.

I know there are other issues to worry about, including drains and all that... but for the purpose of this thread I am trying to focus on the humidity problem. I already plan on having dedicated circuits and outlets for the tank only.

Thanks! =)

Here are a couple of photos of my 75g just for fun.

 

[dsandfort]

In what part of the country are you located?

 

[NanoGurl]

I live in Virginia.

 

[dsandfort]

You probably need to have some east side folks weigh in since I don't have to deal much with outside humidity (Colorado). I put in my own exhaust fan to the outside and it cost me around $400 since my labor is free. I used a fantech inline fan. It works well and with an AC vent dumping to the fish room, I can control the tank temp to 79-82. We'll see what happens this winter. However, I put an outside vent in so the fan can pull cold outside air inside during the winter.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Good luck and don't give up. You aren't the first to deal with this issue. It's controlable.

Del

 

[NanoGurl]

Hi,

Thank you, yes it does help. I'm looking for as many opinions and advice that I can get, so I do appreciate your help.

I'm def not giving up, just trying to figure out the best way to deal with mold issues. I have no idea if that would happen or not, but I would like to find out the best method to control and prevent it.

I have to decide within a few days about the fan. I have no idea if that size is good or bad or needed.

Any other opinions?

Thanks! =)

 

[khoivo1]

air exchanger is the best i think,,,i am install one soon here,,with my 180g and 90sump,,,will cost me about 1800 ,,, dehumidifier will not keep up with it,,speacially in summer here,,but winter is fine for me,,minneasota state ,,good luck

 

[davester1]

if you have the opportunity to do this before the house is built, i would go for it. if you have to do it later after the de-humidifier fails, it will be a pain.

khoivo1, what exactly is an air exchanger? Do you have any links?

 

[melev]

The dehumidifier will cost you too much to run in electricity. The LFS near me uses two of them in his store, and each one pulls 750w (7.5 amps roughly) around the clock. Plus there is the issue with dumping them out all the time, or plumbing them to a floor drain.

Be sure to demand a floor drain just to make your life simpler. Ask for a sink in the fishroom too. Heck, get a counter top with sink so you have some space to work in there.

Original-reefland (Rich Durso) has a nice vent fan hooked up to suck the moisture out of his fishroom. I think it pulls 2.3 amps, but moisture isn't an issue. He'll be happy to tell you more, or you can peruse his thread in the Reef Discussion forum.

My fishroom as a vent fan which helps, but it isn't as strong as what I'm needing. Still, the price was right and I don't hear it, both of which I liked.

You definitely want a vent fan, not just a vent cover that allows air to exit 'naturally'.

And I would even go so far as to recommend an A/C unit for your fishroom so that it won't be hot in there. Your HVAC should not be piped into the fishroom at all, because the salty air will flow backwards through the ducts when the system is off and erode the coils. The HVAC will never be on long enough to cool the fishroom down. Now if you set the basement A/C to run and keep that area around 79F, you could open the door(s) to the fishroom so that it will feel comfortable in there. You'll probably need to put a ton of fans in there as well, just to keep it cool (a local hobbyist did that in his den/game room & fish room. I counted 7 fans including the ceiling fan in there - it was crazy).

HTH

 

[erics3000]

I am doing something similar and have been trying to come up with a solution also. 300 display 75 sump and 55 fuge
I don't want another extra major expense or electric bill. I started closing a big room in my house. Where I wanted my office and the tank room.The return for my ac was right there. So I will move it. Like Marc mentioned you do not want your return for your ac in your tank room not good for AC for sure.

My girfriend doesn't like my black ceiling fan with black lights in the dining room. So I am going to take that fan and put it in the fish room/ office. I am adding a vent in the office from my ac. I have a big enough unit for my house. I was also going to install a vent fan above my lighting area. I am just not sure how to turn the fan on. Maybee with some tempeture switch or something.

Any ideas guys.

I am going to see how that goes first and see where to go from there. I live in Florida and have a new house and do not want any trouble. I leave my ac on all day.

I didn't have enough room to put a sink. That is something you might want to think about also if you haven,t already.

Curious to hear the ideas others have.

 

[melev]

erics3000 - you can use a light switch to turn that fan on and off as needed. A humidistat can turn it on when the room gets too humid (you set it to a certain % setpoint), but I'm guessing you could use a thermostat to make the fan turn on and off somehow.

 

[ricks]

Heat is a issue also. I use a inline dryer fan during the time my (6) 400 watt halides are running. I had used a dehumidifer, but had an issue with build up of co2 in the room. Can cause low PH. So I installed 2 fans on an open window. One blowing air in and one blowing out. Also ran my intake skimmer line out the window. Two years now and no mold problems..

Good Luck

 

[Zoa]

Not meaining to hijack here but it is relatd...what would you guys do if you were about to drill holes in the wall between the living room and garage? The garage could not be an entire fish room--or my honey would freak....I already have a vent fan that is set to go on and off at a certain temperature and I would reset the temp so it went off more. But I do worry about the mold build up also....is there anything else I could do?

 

[clamdigr]

I use a 290cfm vent fan controlled by a temp/humidity controller. The fan is vented outside and the room has a 4" fresh air inlet vent that I can open or close depending on outside weather conditions. It is only open when it is cool and dry outside for long periods (fall and winter here in Michigan). I generally let the controller/fan do what it needs to to maintain <60% humidity and <79* Temp. in the room. I did unplug the vent fan for a few days this week do to outside temps in the mid 90's as my AC was having to work continuously to cool the house, the fish room hovered a little over my max hum. and temp. levels with just a small fan blowing basement air into the room so it was ok for that short time (like melev mentioned, there is an AC vent near the door to the fish room) . My recomendation is to design some flexability into your vent system so that you can tweak things easily as you go. The rooms needs will fluctuate with the seasons.

 

[erics3000]

Thanks marc...

Zoa you could also close part of the garage and seal it and cool it. This way you don't loose you garage. With florida there is no way in the garage. I have a 3 car and really dont want ot give up the space. I will have a water changing station and saltmixing are. That is all the space I am willing to give up

 

[melev]

The problem with venting into the garage is the humidity from the fishroom can rust out some of your tools if you aren't careful. I've seen nice drill bits look 10 years old within a few months. If you carefully store stuff, you can lessen that impact.

clamdigr - could you post a picture of your 4" fresh air inlet vent (does it have a fan?). I've always wanted to do something to bring in cool air in the winter months. What I have been doing is cracking open the door to the garage area all day long (1" to wide open depending on the needs of the fishroom) and then closing it at night to keep it from getting too cold. This has worked out well, but you have to be there to open and close the door daily. I've thought about drilling a huge hole in the sheetrock, pressing some snug fitting PVC through the wall and making a cover that I can take off to let cool air flow in, but that's all I've done - thought about it.

 

[erics3000]

It is funny in Florida we barely have any cool air to bring in. Maybee for 2 months of the year. I run my AC like 11 1/2 months a year no exageration.

 

[clamdigr]

Melev- No fan on the inlet. I got the cover from Home Depot and you can spin the center open or closed. My tank and fish room are in the basement and this vent is in the ceiling of my room and exits the side of the house between the floor joists. Outside is a dryer vent shroud with the flapper removed, I added window screen in it's place to keep the bugs out.

 

[clamdigr]

NanoGurl- I was thinking about the quote you got to install the vent fan and while $1000 sounds like alot of money to me (depending on the quality of the fan) you might want to have a local HVAC contractor that is experienced with indoor pools and spas take a look at it too, they will know what to do. A pool/spa dealer should be able to recommend someone.

BTW..Your 75G looks awesome.

 

[dsandfort]

I did my room very similar to clamdigr. Active exhaust out, passive outside air in, AC in and passive basement air in to the room. I may add a fan to draw more outside air in.

If you have any DIY skills at all, you can find a good in-line fan such as a Fantech, the rest from HD or Lowes. The hardest part is cutting the hole in the wall and finishing it off to make it look built-in.

 

[Zoa]

ok--what do you guys do to close off a small space that is not near the outside of the house? Do you use a vent duct? I have a one car garage so space is premium...