• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Stuffy Room

Spine

Members
I think my fish room needs better ventilation?The glass on my tanks sweat in the summer time even with the A/C on. I have also noticed rust on some metal fictures in this room.This could be caused by saltwater evaporating from a reef tank in the room.My furnace wich has a humidifier is in the same area.Please give any suggestions you can think of. Thanks
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
I put a dehumidifier in the fish room. Also have a large bathroom fan mounted that blows the air outside. The fan comes on with a timer, three times a day to pull humid air out and pull air in under the
door from the rest of the basement. The dehumidifier is digital and I set the desired humidity level that I want. In the summer it never shuts off. In the winter it only runs when needed. I think the humidity this morning read 35% I also run a dehumidifier in the rest of the basement during the summer. The one in the fish room runs all year. also helps heat the room. The door to the fish room stays open in the summer to keep the humidity and temp down. Of course in the winter it is open. I also heat the room that the tanks are in to 79. not the tanks. Keeps the evaporation down. Also I have glass and plexi covers to keep the moisture in. The room is insulated, walls and ceiling. The ceiling also has plastic over it to keep moisture from going into the rest of the house.

You will do major damage to the house if the moisture builds up in the framing. If your tanks are sweating, then you have too much moisture. A couple of years ago, I did not have the tanks all covered and the dehumidifier in the room and the tile near the edge of the room above the fish room peeled up off the floor. It was wet under it. Cold touching warm, humid air . Not good. My old house, I had 18 tanks in a basement. The tanks were heated and I ended up with mold on the walls upstairs behind furniture. Had to get rid of the tanks...... A heated room is the way to go.
 

mscichlid

Founder
I'm a firm believer in having HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning)in the fishroom. All tanks should have a tight fitting glass covers. Plexiglass covers will curl and you will have to keep flipping them to get it to flatten.

I run a floor model fan during the seasons when the HVAC isn't running.

I would like to put a fan like Pat's in my fishroom, too.
 

Spine

Members
Thanks for all the advice..The room has HVAC,It looks like it just needs better ventilation.I think we all agree that I need a fan.My reef is the only tank without a cover,so i'll put one on it.I have to replace all the drywall in the ceiling so I'm thinking about doing two things.Get a dehumidfier and put in a fan venting it out through the attic/roof.
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
When I built my room, I did not put drywall on the ceiling. Just the insulation and black plastic.
Looks a little funny, but I was worried about mold and access to things as my room or needs changed
over the years. Also that way, I was able to run the verticle parts of my racks right into the joists above and bolt them there for more support.

Old picture. and you really cant see the ceiling very well. One side of the room.
100_0932.jpg





You can see the fan in the upper right. sort of. It was the biggest one I could get from Home Depot.
I vented it out where a window was. The window is also gone. Too much sweating when it was there. Had to go.

100_0940.jpg
 
Top