American Cichlid Association

Dehumidifier anyone?

hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
I'm finding my fish tanks are significantly adding to the humidity level upstairs of my three-story townhouse. It's hard enough to get cold air up there! Does anyone use a dehumidifier in their fish rooms? thoughts on the subject? Suggestions?
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
We have a dehumidifier in our basement, which coincidently is where most of my tanks are. It's a bit noisy, so I'd recommend that you carefully evaluate the noise levels of any units you consider. In our case, because it's in the basement, it isn't too big of a concern.

In the winter, it barely runs at all, but in the summer it tends to fill up almost every day. (It holds about two gallons of water, I think.)
 
A

AndyNarwhal

Members
I have to run two dehumidifiers (one in the fish room and one in the larger part of the basement). Without them my walls and ceiling upstairs would be covered in mold.

They really rack up the electricity bill and are something I would like to eliminate. Basically they are like window air conditioner units that run almost 24/7.

If you have the ability consider a heat exchanger. This brings in fresh dry air from outside and expels out humid, stale air from inside while conserving the heat. This works great for fish rooms.

I plan on adding one in place of my dehumidifiers sometime in the next year or so.

Andy
 
Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
AndyNarwhal said:
I have to run two dehumidifiers (one in the fish room and one in the larger part of the basement). Without them my walls and ceiling upstairs would be covered in mold.

They really rack up the electricity bill and are something I would like to eliminate. Basically they are like window air conditioner units that run almost 24/7.

If you have the ability consider a heat exchanger. This brings in fresh dry air from outside and expels out humid, stale air from inside while conserving the heat. This works great for fish rooms.

I plan on adding one in place of my dehumidifiers sometime in the next year or so.

Andy
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I wish I could fit one but cant in my little room. I know 2 people that have used them. 1 loved it. The other hated it. Not sure which way to go.. LOL
My dehumidifier sits high in the room now and I have a hose running to a 5 gallon bucket. One day I will pipe it to the drain but for now the 5 gallon bucket saves me from having to empty the unit 2 times per day in the spring. Right now its not too bad because the AC in the house keeps the humidity down some.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
This would be in a small bedroom upstairs (third floor) that has three tanks in it. So not a huge space or a lot of tanks, but I feel the humidity when I walk up the stairs. Adding heat to the room, though, is not what I had in mind . . .
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
A fan or two will work wonders...

Matt

hollyfish2000 said:
This would be in a small bedroom upstairs (third floor) that has three tanks in it. So not a huge space or a lot of tanks, but I feel the humidity when I walk up the stairs. Adding heat to the room, though, is not what I had in mind . . .
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Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Would not look nice but I also have a bathroom fan built into the window of my fish room.
Its on a timer and comes on a couple times a day to get the humid air out. Like you do after a shower.

 
A

AndyNarwhal

Members
A couple of people locally have hooked up bathroom fans in their fish rooms to pump out moist air in the summertime. Only works in the summertime though. In the winter you lose too much heat.

Andy
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I use two exhaust fans, one at each end of the fish room in my basement. They are controlled by humidity. I set the humidity controllers to 60% humidity and the exhaust fans only run when the humidity is above 60%. You do have to be careful about sizing the fans. I sized them to remove about 5 times the volume of air in the room in one hour. ANd if you want really quiet exhaust fans, bathroom fans can be really noisy, get the remote type where the fan motor is in the attic or crawl space and only connected to the room by the 4 inch tubing.

You could set the humidity controllers at maybe 70%. My experience says you do not get molds and mildews on the walls or ceiling unless the humidity level is somewhere above 70%. Of course that also depends on air flow in the room. All that falls out to no account if the walls or ceiling are cold and serve as condensers so they become coated with water. Under those conditions really nothing works to prevent mold or mildew.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
I am not handy, so exhaust vans and humidity monitors are not my bailiwick! there is no mold/mildew problem, just a higher level of humidity in that room . . .
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Well,

If you run your tanks with lids that cover most of the tank and use power filters, no air stones or bubblers, you can minimize the amount of water vapor getting into the air. Even use covers on the HOT filters or use canister filters and be sure the flow back to the tank does not cause a lot of surface agitation.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
Two of the three tanks have covers. and only one has an HOB. But I do run constant bubblers on a plastic garbage can in the room's adjacent bathroom to age water. I wonder if that is the major culprit! I've only recently been leaving the door open to the bathroom. Thanks for the thought . ..
 
blkmjk

blkmjk

Members
I work in the HVAC industry. And one thing to keep in mind is that if the room temp is kept 2*F above the highest tank temp then the need for dehumidification no longer exists in a normal form. By that I mean you will no longer be evaporating water from the tanks. This coupled with ventilation eliminates the need for dehumidification. Alas most of us use/live in the spaces that we keep our beloved wet pets. Which means the only way you could dehumidify a space that is kept at temperatures lower than the tank temps is by means of mechanical cooling and then reheating the dehumidified air back to room temp. And then dispersing it back to the space. IE dehumidifiers do the trick.

From the sound of it you live in that space so simply ventilating won't do the trick for you. I would buy a dehumidifier and drain the condensate back to your tanks. Be prepared for a difference in the amount of water you need to add to your ranks between water changes. A low humidity space allows for greater evaporation. It is a never ending battle good and evil or comfort and discomfort in this case. An ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) can be purchased at a reasonable price and ducted to the space by a qualified contractor but your looking at 2K minimum.

Drew
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
If you really cared about your fish!

hollyfish2000 said:
Um, thanks? $2K for my little office/tank space is so not happening!
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Come on, Holly, it's for your fish!

Seriously, I'd cut off the bubbler on the aged water and see if that helps. Then, if that's not enough, add one of the columnar fans.

Having seen your space, I'd be reluctant to squeeze a dehumidifier in there.
 
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