Humidity Control In Fish Room

[jlfalin]

Hello. As some of you may know I am currently in the planning stages of a large fish room in my new basement. I have been doing research on how to best control humidity in the room. Seeing as it is a new construction house I am sure it will be built tight and not breath well which may make it difficult to control the humidity. Additionally, if I cause molding problems in the house it is a safe bet that my wife will kill me. I have been looking at the difference in AC units, dehumidifiers, vent fans, and heat exchangers. It seems like the humid summers we have here would make heat exchangers pretty worthless in the summer, but the cold dry winters would be a perfect time to run them. I was thinking about an exchanger in the cool and winter months and a dehumidifier/AC in the summer. I would like anybody that has experience to chime in. I am still a while away from even purchasing a tank, figured I would start with room logistics and how to best set up the room. Once I have everything in the room planed I will start looking at tanks. Right now the plan is for something in the 1000-1500 gallon range to be housed in a fish room that is ~16'x20'.

[Dustin1300]

I just use an exhaust fan hooked up to humidistat.

 

 

 

Mounts on ceiling and exhausts out a dryer vent.

[coralfarm123]

Have same setup with 6 inch inline fan bought from greenhouse site and same humidity controller as Dustin.

[MrsBugmaster]

Dustin, are you venting it through your existing dryer vent or you mean you used dryer vent material and vented it outside separately?

[jlfalin]

Thanks for the input. How do you two like using the vent fan. I have heard they work well for humidity. I have also heard that the negative pressure they produce can be problematic. One, if the house isn't tight the negative pressure in that room will cause a negative pressure gradient throughout the house pulling in outside air making heating/cooling more difficult and less energy efficient. If the house is built tight I could potentially see a problem with so much negative pressure that the fan is no longer effective and cannot pull against the pressure. Of course the gradient would equalize after the fan shuts off but may make it hard to keep up. Have either one of you had problems like this.

 

Also, how low do you keep your humidity in the room/house. Have you guys ever had problems with the house feeling damp, smelling musty or seen mold?

 

Again, thanks for the advice.

[jlfalin]

Another though I had was about having a gas furnace/water heater. The negative pressure in the house would cause CO to be sucked back down the vent. Does anyone have problems with this. If not what did you do to ensure safety. I really want to just use vent fans but also don't want to put my family and myself in danger.

[Dustin1300]

Dustin, are you venting it through your existing dryer vent or you mean you used dryer vent material and vented it outside separately?

 

I cut a hole and put in a new one. Our laundry room is right above and could have tapped into that vent too but did not want that venting into fish room. I'd guess the dryer sheet/softener/etc scents would not be ideal to pump into the room, could also add humidity back to room I'd think.

[MrsBugmaster]

 

I cut a hole and put in a new one. Our laundry room is right above and could have tapped into that vent too but did not want that venting into fish room. I'd guess the dryer sheet/softener/etc scents would not be ideal to pump into the room, could also add humidity back to room I'd think.

Yeah, not a good idea to tie it into an existing vent. We had a idiot "professional" tie our dryer into our electric cook top vent, the moisture from the dryer damaged the cook top.