Mold, Mold, Everywhere!!!

Pufferpunk

Pufferpunk

New member
Hubby keeps parading me around the house, showing me all the black mold growing, because of my tanks. Today, he showed me the entire back wall behind his bookcase is covered w/mold. The back door is litterly dripping with water. We can't look thru any of our windows, cause there's condensation on all of them. We can't close our closet doors, because the mold grows in there & the clothes smell. I have a de-humidifier in my fish room, where there are a little over 1/2 of the tanks kept. It sucks up 2g of water, every 2 days. I have a total of ~414g of fishtanks in my home. Any suggestions?
 
i work for service master and me do flood and fire rest. we also clean mold all the time. you can first try going with a 10 to 1 mix of water to bleach. also use a de-humifigier if there is anything wet it will not help with the mold just from keeping any more starting. DO NOT use fans as it will just spread the pors all over and let it grow more so. other then that we would take any of the visible mold out. for exm. any drywall trim.... any other questions let me know.

another thing to all of use saltwater lovers there is 3 grades of water clear which is tape water. gray which is rain water. and black which is sewage. i was told that saltwater when left for 3 days is just as bad or worrse then sewage b/c there is so much bac growing in it.

Jeremy
 
Maybe you just need more dehumidifiers, im not an expert on the subject but I would have a dehumidifier in every room that has tanks. Im thinking about the same problem when i move and get up a 240 along with my little nano reef. I guess ill be looking forward to answers on this subject as much as you.
 
you should look into a dehumidifer that goesinlinew with your furance if you have forced heating and air it would work alot better
i have a guy if u need one that does HVAC he is a friend of mine
 
You need more than one dehumidifier, plus some powered venting to the outside.

X-14, which is sort of stabilized chlorine bleach, I'm guessing, will make the mold literally vanish before your eyes, but be careful anywhere near the tank.

That stuff can alter mood as well as affect your breathing. Certain people go into either depression or wild rages when exposed to it. Get it out of there.
 
a dehumidifer is all u need just a good sized one
what do u think they use in indoor pools that hold alot more water than aquariums do
My buddy has a pool in his house with a HUGE dehumidifer and all the walls are windows to the outside never is there condensation on it

you just dont have a big enough one to handle what u need
 
Jeni, I have the same problem. For the last couple of weeks I've been running a dehumidifer 24/7. It seems like this has solved the problem. So get more dehumidifiers because it looks like the one you have is not enough. Also, get yourself a hygrometer to see how much moisture is in your house. Ideally, you want to keep it under 50%.

http://www.radonseal.com/molds-mildew.htm
 
Another alternative that will be cheaper to run is to install a Heat Recovery Unit in your ventilation system. It will exchange outside air with inside air but will recover the heat of the inside air to same in heating costs.
 
Puffer,

I have more water in my basement than your system and I do not have any similar problems. You need to look into some serious dehumidification...Not Sears brand boxes that sit on your floor, but as Jose mentioned (and I have one of these) and HRV that can dehumidify your entire home. As I'm sure you know, black mold is very bad and can make people very sick...it may be impacting your health and you don't even know it.

I'd suggest calling an HVAC person in and getting some recommendations from them.
 
Another reason to look into the HRV's like Mike is describing is cost of operating the consumer "Sears-type" dehumid.

I hooked up a "Kill-a-watt" to both of my dehumid's and they were costing me $62 per month to operate. ($30 & $32 each).

They also put off a lot of heat, which was raising the temp in my basement.
 
The one thing I did, tho labor intensive, is to cover my tanks at night. I have four tanks and was losing more than 4 gallons a day. (in the family room!) On my softy tanks I lowered the temp 2 degrees; I cover them at night and have cut the evaporation by about a third. Also helps with my salt creep.

I did increase the surface agitation to make sure oxy levels are okay and have refug on reverse light cycles. I monitor PH at night and all seems okay.
 
Jenni,
10 to 1 on the bleach will get rid of the mold as "addiosoms" mentioned. But that is only a temp solution......you will need to rectify that quickly...it can get out of hand and yes you can get sick!!

Currently I have a dehumid running 2hrs on/2hrs off-ALL DAY LONG!! Seems to help, yet i do have some moisture on the windows....just the ones that LEAK!!

HTH and Good Luck

Rich
 
I'd suggest calling an HVAC person in and getting some recommendations from them.
Click to expand...

LOL, I sleep with one every night! Just to let you folks know what I've got here: Hubby's been a pipefitter (heating & air conditioning) for 30+ years. We have a Frigidare, 115v, 25 pints/24hr de-humifdifier. in my fishroom (office). He ordered it from one of his catalouges. He is going to order a larger one for my fishroom & put the present one in the livingroom (tanks in there too). We do use a bleach solution to clean the mold. What worries me is that the mold we see is just the tip of the iceberg. What's under the wallpaper/paint, in the walls themselves???
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8684669#post8684669 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
Hubby has a Psychrometer that he swings in the air to measure humidity. I think we're at 80%.
Click to expand...
Interested in a rain forest at home? :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8684813#post8684813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
Yup, my orchids are very happy here!
Click to expand...
Misery for some haven for others.
Godd luck in getting rid of the mold.
 
mold is very bad

mold is very bad

You had better have it remediated it immediately and I would recommend professionally especially if you ever plan on selling your house. Once that mold gets inside the drywall you will be in deep trouble. You may also have to declare that the house has had mold issues on the declarations statement when you put the house on the market.

Mold is the worst four letter word in real estate these days, I know someone in CT who had to pay $500,000 to remediate their house, an extreme case but it is very serious, they found the mold because their daughter was having reperatory issues.
 
We've had this problem for several years. So far the only one in my house that has "issues" is the dog. He keeps running around like a maniac! Nah, we'll probably live in this house till the day we die. Which may be sooner now...
 
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