Thoughts on how to vent fishroom?

benihana

benihana

New member
I am working through the planning stages of putting a 300g (72x42x24) tank in the wall, and due to space contraints, there will not be a "œfish room", instead the tank/sump/equipment will be located inside of a closet (unfortunately this is not negotiable). My initial thought was to put a bathroom type fan, and exhaust it through the existing venting for the house, but I wonder about the long term impacts of salt water on the overall system. My other thought was to utilize the existing HVAC Air Exchanger, but again, not sure on the long term impacts of salt water.

Also, since the system will be located in a small space (but not air tight), should I have a fresh air return run into the closet in order to better control pH and feed the skimmer?


For those of you who have/had a tank in the wall "“ what type of issue did you run into from a ventilation stand point, and what would you recommend doing/looking into in order to minimize/eliminate those issues
 
More thoughts

More thoughts

Benihana
I will be moving in the spring and have been considering similar questions. Are you planning on running a separate section of ductwork for the exhaust or T-ing into existing ductwork? If you T in (the direction I think I'm leaning) what keeps the fan in the fish room from just pushing the humid air into the bathroom?
 
FrostyChicken said:
Benihana
I will be moving in the spring and have been considering similar questions. Are you planning on running a separate section of ductwork for the exhaust or T-ing into existing ductwork? If you T in (the direction I think I'm leaning) what keeps the fan in the fish room from just pushing the humid air into the bathroom?
Click to expand...

If I did the exhaust fan route, my plan was to run a new fan/line externally
 
benihana said:
Are you saying that I should NOT run this through the existing air exchanger then?
Click to expand...

I would not. If it was a freshwater system, no problem. Saltwater ? ..... you wont have problems right away, but 5 years down the road you will start having corrosion issues.
 
rbarn said:
I would not. If it was a freshwater system, no problem. Saltwater ? ..... you wont have problems right away, but 5 years down the road you will start having corrosion issues.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks....that is what I was worried about.


Does anyone know if there is there a coating that can be put on ductwork to minimize or eliminate the corrosion?
 
I'll check at work. We use a coating to protect the Helicopters from saltwater spray and to help reduce corrosion. I can't think of it off the top of my head.
 
A lot of new constructions uses that black plastic flexible ductwork. I'm normally not a fan due to the pressure drops it causes as opposed to rigid but in this case would it be better?
 
It's not the duct work you have to worry about. All that will ever do is form some surface corrosion anyway. It's the condenser coil that is going to take a beating.

If there is any way at all possible to run it's own independent duct work to an exterior vent either through a wall or the roof this the best way to do it. Especially if you plan to have the tank up and running for 5-10 years. Barring that it might cheaper to set it up on it's own mini-heat exchanger system that will be easier and cheaper to maintain than the whole house unit.

I would take some extra effort to isolate it from the rest of the home's a/c system. In the long run you will be glad you did.
 
Perfect. The tank will sit next to an exterior wall, so direct venting shouldn't be too much of an issue

Thanks for your help
 
In JanVelazquez's thread they mention spraying the A/C components with CorrosionX to help preserve it from saltwater spray.

As for the venting fan I would keep it separate and pipe it directly outdoors, not to any other household system. You could take it down through the floor and out if going up through the ceiling is not an option.

Dave.M
 
I'm looking at doing a similar installation of an exhaust fan. 'll likely be using an inline fan connected via PVC pipe. As long as the pipe is sloped to the outside there will be no concerns about corrosion or condensation..... until the fan eventually craps out down the road. Fan-tech and others make good inline exhaust fans.
 
I installed a new Panosonic vent fan in my 10' x 10' fish room, it runs at a very low power and speed 24hrs a day and kicks up to full power on a Humidistat. I do not here it and it keeps the humidity at safe levels. My fish room draws air from the garage through my trimline chillers and exhausts out the side of the house. The fans come with a pretty good warranty so they should last for years???

http://www.waveplumbing.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=55_354

The trick to make a bathroom fan work well in a small room is being able to pull fresh air into the room at the same rate it is being exhausted. This is why if your bathroom door does not have enough gap under it your bathroom fan just spins and does nothing. If you do choose a Inline fan make sure you have access to repair or service it.
 
pciscott said:
I installed a new Panosonic vent fan in my 10' x 10' fish room, it runs at a very low power and speed 24hrs a day and kicks up to full power on a Humidistat. I do not here it and it keeps the humidity at safe levels. My fish room draws air from the garage through my trimline chillers and exhausts out the side of the house. The fans come with a pretty good warranty so they should last for years???

http://www.waveplumbing.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=55_354

The trick to make a bathroom fan work well in a small room is being able to pull fresh air into the room at the same rate it is being exhausted. This is why if your bathroom door does not have enough gap under it your bathroom fan just spins and does nothing. If you do choose a Inline fan make sure you have access to repair or service it.
Click to expand...

Scott:

I have the same fan, one in my canopy above the tank and one in my sump room. I have been unhappy about the venting in the sump room and after reading your post, I know why it has not been working well - I have no good source of fresh to exchange with the humid sump room air. Time to install a vent. Thanks!
 
Here is the way I plan on venting/removing excess humidity"¦

On winter time I will use the exhaust fan to remove the humidity, on summer time I will use a mini split AC system that will remove humidity and cool down the room, you can see the place where the split AC system will be installed right next to the right side of the exhaust fan.

 
Been researching this subject for my upcoming project. It seems as though everyone has an opinion on the correct ways to vent. In my search all I've done is confuse myself even more. I'm planning a room roughly 6x12 I really want to have the room as sealed off as possible with all walls covered in green board and sealed with caulking and water resistant paint. I live in Pittsburgh,PA which is generally mild but can get cold winters and hot summers. My biggest issue i have with bathroom fan type setups is it seems like you are just blowing out lots of already warm air. This just seems very inefficient to me. I have tried to find people using erv's and hrv's in my climate but noone seems to be using them. My plan involves leds and submersible dc pumps for returns and vortechs for flow. Needless to say lots of my heat generators will not be heating the water and heaters will be needed. Sump and tank will be in basement cold room. I guess my most basic question is what is the best method to remove the humidity for 400 gallons of water without the heat. I really want to keep 100% of this moisture separate from the rest of the house due to the salt content that will inevitably wreck havoc on and steel in the house. My thoughts now are an erv in the room, but im not sure based on my climate how efficient this will be.
 
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