ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14304520#post14304520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefWaters
Jonathan - can you explain the "fresh air intake" a little better? Is this a second duct pipe or a special type of fan? Also, what kind of temp control are you using? You're not running that off your Aqua Controller are you? Could you?
Click to expand...

First, Marc makes a very important point. You should isolate the room from the house ventilation system. Not only will that allow humid air into the other rooms, but it will rust your ductwork. I use an exterior door between the house and the tank room because it has excellent weatherproofing built in.

This is the ventilation Fan:

exhaust%20fan.jpg


It is run by a combo temp. and humidistat like is used for green houses. You can find them at any hydroponics supplier. As I said, I had to turn off the humidistat part. This unit allows for operating equipment plugged into it for multiple purposes, but I am just using it for the fan and have it set to about 75F. It is not accurate, but I adjust it slightly for seasonal changes.

You probably could use the Neptune Controller and vent the room based on tank temp., but that might be putting too many eggs in one basket. Worth trying it out though.

Unfortunately my early construction pics got melted when I transitioned my store web site, but I have a couple to show you the vent.

In this shot of the skimmer, you can see the duct going to the outside wall and the vent just to the right of it.

skimmer1%20102708.jpg


The duct continues outside with an "L" and some 10' of pipe to direct the warm air away from the intake.

This pic has a little better shot of the intake vent:

backside4%20051906.jpg


It is just an attic style vent with a removable grate on the outside so I can shop-vac the bugs off it. I feel this is about the least expensive way to vent a tank room, but if you have the coin, I would recommend a split system. What I have works, but not perfectly. Things in the tank room will rust so keep that in mind.

HTH!
 
Yes I was having problems with high humidity in the rest of the home. The larger system was set up August 07. I had a much smaller system before and did not notice humidity problems.

I have allergies, so as soon as it begins to warm in the spring, the air conditioner goes on and it stays on until winter. Between the central air and the small room conditioner in the basement fishroom window, the humidity was only a problem during the winter. It was so bad that I had water rolling down the upstairs windows. A cup sitting in the basement would collect water.

The ventilation fan has made a huge difference. I do have some infiltration of fresh air through the basement window. I have not sealed this window as I believe the fresh air to be beneficial. The fan was intalled over Thanksgiving, so I don't know what adjustments will be needed for the summer months. I do not run a de-humidifier and would like to avoid using one if possible.
 
I think dehumidifiers are simply a huge waste of money. Although they can be a good short term solution, really you are spending a lot of energy on a problem that can be solved in other ways.

I knew humidity was going to be an issue since I chose evaporative cooling as my method. So I sealed the room and painted the walls and ceiling with yacht bilge paint. Not a bad plan TBH, but I did not count on there being quite as much rusting as there is. I made a huge mistake and installed stainless tables for my work spaces and they are not holding up well. The stainless is probably 18-8 if that, so not the best grade, and the legs are some other metal that rusts if you look at it wrong.

When I remodel my tank room, I will go to a split system and remove the metal tables. They look "cool" but take work to keep clean.
 
J - I am not quite understanding your vent system. It draws air from out side and blows in your fish room when it is cold and vents out when it is hot????
 
Thanks for all the comments guys.

The fish room "air" is 100% separate from the rest of the house. I was just curious what you guys were dealing with. After dealing with the issues of high humidity in my house because of fish tanks for years, not being able to separating this system from the rest of my house would have been a deal breaker. The room where my 50 cube (70 gallons total) was located needs major work because of water damage and condensation.

I was lucky enough to have the dehumidifier lying around. An old roommate had left it with me. I knew I would need it one day! :D So I'm lucky enough not to have any cost in the unit other than electricity. I am definitely ready to get rid of it. I can actually hear it over any of the pumps or even the overflow from my living room.

I have been keeping the air temp at 75 and the tank temp fluctuates between about 76.7 and 77.9 over 24 hours. But I'm pretty sure the A/C is running all the time and the dehumidifier definitely never shuts off. This all keeps the humidity at around 60%.

I am thinking of installing a vent fan, or in line duct fan, to exhaust the air out of the room. And then install a second duct, with no fan, to suck in fresh air when the exhaust fan is on. Does anyone find anything wrong with this setup? I have seen people install a fan on the fresh air duct to push air into the room as well but I feel like this is not necessary. I'm not sure how I will control it yet. I'm not in love with leaving the fan on 24/7 if I can avoid it.
 
If you are drawing moist air out of the room, it will suck in the drier air from the rest of the house. I've not seen the need to bring in fresh air via a vent, no matter how hot or cold it gets around here. It sucks in air from the garage area under the door's threshold. I don't park in the garage, so there are no fumes to worry about.

That dehumidifier is costing you a lot of money. Odds are it is pulling 750 watts of power (half a hair dryer), or 7.5 amps. If it never turns off, does that mean you have it hard plumbed to drain into a nearby drain all the time? Usually they turn off when the collection pan is full. The unit is also pouring heat into the room it is running in.
 
kingsland - will that switch a standard 120 volt vent fan on and off according to the humidity? Does it wire up similiar to a wall switch?

Marc - I know the dehumidifier is costly. It has 7 strikes against it. And yes, it is hard plumbed to drain into my floor drain.
 
well, fresh air has its advantages, plus without a fresh air intake of some kind, you will expose the house to humidity. In terms of using garage air for that purpose, it's probably just fine, especially in states that have hot ambient temperatures. Some people draw from the crawlspace under their house as well.
 
I agree I am so glad my sump and fuge are in my garage. The ac in my house pretty much takes care of my humidity from my display but I am have been getting rust on my tools. SO I bought a cheap exhaust fan but also have been wondering about keeping it on 24/7. I know my garage is going to get hot over the summer. I run my display lights later in the day. I like the benefit of viewing the tank later in the night and it helps with heat. I am curious about the switch too.
 
UPDATE

UPDATE

So I figured it was due time for a little update.

As usual, I am not very happy with my performance thus far with this tank...or my photography. :)

I've made a few changes and fixed a few problems. But overall, I'm not testing my water like I should, I haven't set up my calcium reactor yet, I haven't done anything about venting the room....etc, etc, blah blah blah.

But all in all, the tank is doing fairly well considering. Some corals are growing very well. Others seem to be in hibernation. But nothing seems to be dying.

I had purchased a powder brown tang a few months ago to lively up the tank a little. She was a beautiful specimen at about 3" to 4". She was eating great and loving life when one night she decided to check out what was going on on the floor. :rolleyes: :( About the same time, I lost half of my Regal damsels ( Neopomacentrus cyanomos) and both of my clowns from what looked like ick.

I've just been taking things slow but sometimes I feel like I might be taking things too slowly, thus the problems.

I added a second return pump to the display tank for redundancy and more turn over.

P1016324.jpg


Good thing too, because just yesterday, my older return had an issue and stopped pumping. It kept the system turning over but it caused some issues with my secondary sump system.

P1016320.jpg



I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I switched out the 20 long I was using for the secondary sump with a 50 breeder. The extra volume and space is nice. I also got rid of the 1" drain (drain running from the secondary sump to the main sump). The 1" drain just wasn't enough. I had to keep my skimmer turn over choked down as well as the flow through the secondary sump or it would overflow. On the new 50, I used a 1 1/2" drain and reduced the overall distance of the drain line by half. Needless to say, I'm having no problems with overflows.

The skimmer drain (black ABS) was dumping directly into the secondary sump. Yet another bright idea of mine was to not use baffles in the secondary sump. I didn't like all the salt creep it was causing from the bubbles and splashing so I plumbed the skimmer drain directly into the drain line going from the secondary sump to the main sump.

P1016322.jpg


Now, I have to make sure that the volume of water pouring into the secondary sump from the overflow (white 1" pipe) is greater than the skimmer turnover or the secondary sump will drain. :smokin: I cant help myself... I'm a glutton for punishment.

I FINALLY GOT THE SCREWY 660 FIXED!!!!!

P1016325.jpg


I finally took a few hours and tinkered with the wiring until I got a perfect continuity test. I will gladly explain what I did if someone happens to be having a similar problem, but otherwise, its too complicated for 10pm..... Lets just say it turned out to be something REALLY simple.

Other than that, not much has changed. Here are some more pics. I'm fairly happy with the color I'm getting straight from the camera now but I'm having a horrible time getting a good looking focus. I'm not sure if its me or my lens, but something tells me my lens is just fine. Anyway, I'm not too proud to post them....

P1016297.jpg


P1016296.jpg
 
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Looking awesome... sometimes taking it slow and enjoying the tank some is the answer to our tank problems.

I don't know what camera you are using (if you mentioned, I have long since forgotten)- but the thing I see the most that would help your pictures is to get a tripod. Along with that use the timer function to take pictures. Aquarium lights really screw with the sensor with the camera and its auto focus/exposure mechanism.

Anyway, it looks awesome. Next time I am in Savannah I might have to figure out a way to get invited! :)
 
An update! OMG - IDK - RBI - IOU - WOW! :D

Did you ever get your AC 3 situation resolved so you could access it from the web?

Talk to you again in five months. :lol:
 
drgabe... I do have a tripod! :rolleyes: But I didn't use it for every picture above. I'll keep trying. I'm going to check out my timer capabilities next time I play with it.

Ebob954....Thanks! The fish room is the BEST thing I have done in this hobby. There are a few things I would change though. I will NEVER put an air conditioner, or any similar equipment, above the tank again. Unfortunately, it was about the only place I could find to put it in the room but if in reality, I probably could have found another place. I would also prefer not to have all of the windows I have.

Melev... no, I never got the AC3 Pro permanently connected to the router. Its simply a matter of running the ethernet cable up into the attic and down a chase I have to my router. However, I might do some more research on a wireless connection or the "power line" connections. I cant remember what they are called. The ones that run through a wall outlet.

Zoanut....thank you very much. I wanted to leave plenty of room for the corals to grow and the fish to swim. I actually want to add a little rock but I'm really happy with the way things look right now. The pictures really don't do the aquascaping justice. There are tons of little caves and valleys all throughout the entire tank.
 
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