Preventing Mold in Canopy

[AmberL]

Yesterday I noticed I had mold growing in a corner of my canopy. Gross! :thumbdown It was the white fuzzy stuff and cleaned up easily with a cloth dampened with 409 (sprayed in a different room than the tank is in).

Does this happen often, or do I have an air circulation problem?

 

[MaxxdOut]

My tank is euro braced and covered so I can't speak in respect to frequency. However, it sounds as if you have a circulation issue. Are you running fans?

 

[AmberL]

I am not. I have T5s so my LFS said I wouldn't need fans since I'm not running MH lights.

 

[AquaMore]

you're getting mold from unventilated evaporation, for a 90G you should put at least 2 PC fans in there, one in and one out.

 

[KafudaFish]

Your LFS is wrong if they told you that.

Can you run T5s wo fans? Yes

Will running T5s wo fans shorten the bulb life? Yes.

Proper air flow helps cool the bulbs and helps with bulb life.

One fan in and one fan out should help with that and your mold issue.

If you have a wood canopy eventually it could warp due to condensation.

 

[TooFast]

Yuck. Sure it was mold and not spider eggs? It must be pretty moist in there, no lid on your aquarium?

 

[AmberL]

Okay, two fans. I didn't realize that it would help the bulb life. Any brand recommendations?

Yes, it was mold, not spider eggs. It is pretty humid in there - I do have condensation on the metal hinge on some days. I do not have a lid, because I was told that lids hinder oxygenation and light.

 

[AquaMore]

any PC case fans will do

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007

80mm should be enough but I like the bigger 120mm ones

 

[AmberL]

any PC case fans will do

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007

80mm should be enough but I like the bigger 120mm ones

Thanks!

 

[Virtuoso]

Speaking in a computer case design sense, the bigger ones move slower and create less noise while pushing the same amount of air. I would go with the 120mm over 80mm if you can without too much trouble.

 

[AquaMore]

that really depends on the fan,

typical 80mm - output ~30 CFM
typical 120mm - output ~64 CFM

 

[Virtuoso]

Sorry, I meant more along the lines of if you ran them at the same CFM, the 120mm would be a lot slower and less noisy.

 

[MarkGP]

Regardless of what lighting you have, with a canopy you should be running fans 24/7 to deal with condensation inside the canopy. Check out silen-x fans here http://www.silenx.com/ixtremaprofans.asp and here http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/thermalright-x-silent-120mm-silent-fan.html.