cheap way to ventilate a fish room

[Kareen]

Need some Ideas on how to ventilate my beasmt fish room.

 

[Carolineep]

Hang box fans close to the ceiling for best air movement also using a fan with dehumidifier works nicely to move air around.

 

[FishEggs]

Where are you trying to vent it to? Outside? Other part of the house?

 

[Kareen]

I need to vent it outside The room is 20x40 not sure how many vents I would need and what kind of fans I would need I have 8 tank's but will be adding more down the road.

 

[CSnyder00]

I've seen people use all kinds of stuff. I used to use a dehumidifier. You could use a couple of bathroom ceiling vents. This would move the air outside fairly easily and wiring on them is not difficult.

 

[Frank Cowherd]

Bathroom exhaust vents work well particularly if the house is also air conditioned. If you get the type that has the motor in the attic they can be so quiet that you will not hear them. But some of the motors can be used in the same room without too much noise. I use the type that never needs lubrication. You can also get different size motors to move more air. Sizing the motors to give you the ability to move 3 to 8 time the volume of the room gives you more ability to move out humid air. You can also buy a humidity control and hook (wire) it to the exhaust fans so that you can dial in the humidity setting. I would recommend setting it at 60%, which means the fans are on most of the time. As long as you keep the humidity below 80% (really 70% is a better number) you will not get molds growing on walls or ceilings (unless the wall is cooler than the room, like it is an outside wall in the winter).

If you use glass covers on all your aquariums you will help control the amount of evaporation and therefore the humidity in the room. I do not use any lids on any of my tanks and with two exhaust fans (one on each side) the room humidity stays below 70% with the 60% humidity setting. My fish room has no windows, it is below ground.

Do not use a room fan. The air circulation you get from using a room fan promotes the evaporation of water from the aquariums and increases the humidity.

I use only sponge filters with a high air flow to the sponges. That gives a constant evaporation rate and does mean that my exhaust fans are on almost all the time.

 

[dogofwar]

In my prior basement fishroom, the house HVAC system and well-covered tanks kept the humidity relatively low. I used circulation fans and a dehumidifier (in a different part of the basement) to keep the environment pleasant.

The one place I would get condensation and mold was the actual HVAC ductwork, where there was a temperature differential. I rigged a few small clip-on fans to run along the ducts to address this.

My current fishroom is in an insulated garage that is primarily heated with a space heater and dehumidifier. What I found is that I was getting condensation on the underside of the plywood roof in the winter, where the cold was coming in contact with the warmer air underneath (the garage, for whatever reason, isn't properly vented). Use of a dehumidifier and ventilation fans in the rafters + Conchrobium spray (mold proofs surfaces) has kept things dry.

Matt

 

[Carolineep]

Whoop I misunderstood your question.
Guess that was kinda obvious

 

[FishEggs]

Just saw this at the HDepot.

 

[CSnyder00]

I would go with larger vents for a room that size. 20' x 40' is huge. Two strong bathroom vents or one strong vent and a good dehumidifier would be my recommendation. I personally would use two bathroom vents, depending on how many more tanks you are planning on putting in.

 

[FishEggs]

Of course the glare covers the 80cfm data.