Salt Creep / Evaporation & Room Conditions

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mrbee2828

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
776
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
I have started posting questions about salt water as I'm ready to make the jump from Cichlid to SW next year. I will be setting up a larger tank in my garage with a RODI setup and other things as a nice (messy) place to learn before moving something like this into the house.

I was wondering about salt creep and the like with the rooms tanks are placed in. Having lived near the beach I know rust is a much larger issue on the coast like it is in the winter up north on cars. Obviously our tanks are on a much smaller scale but how do SW setups effect your rooms? I was thinking about setting up the RODI off the water heater and placing the tank next to that storage.

Will I have issues with rust on the water heater, dog crate or any other metal sorta' of near the tank at the end of the year? Are most SW stands made of pressure treated wood? I will most likely have an open top and if things go well with this first FOWLR I may set up a 2nd reef tank or convert the FOWLR to a reef.

I'm asking mostly because I wonder how this will effect a living room or office in the home down the road with expensive theater equipment or computers in the same 100-200 sq ft areas. Make sense? Am I crazy worrying about this?
 
I know what you are saying,I have my fry tanks in my workshop and the moist air has rusted alot of my cnc machine although its only surface rust.
 
put soem exhaust fans in the room to help suck out the humid air that you may get i have a 26g right now an haven't had any issues with humidity or salt creep around, the salt creep is mainly from splashing water so keep microbubbles to a minimum and you should have a problem with salt anywhere
 
Dave, how big is your workshop with CNC machines?Sounds like it's a substantially sized shop. I have a 2 car garage and I'm thinking about a 55-110gallon tank. How long has the frag stuff been setup with the machinery and how near/far from the machines is it? Just curious.
 
you are not going to have salt creep anywhere unless you are using something that causes a lot of bubbles popping at the surface. an air line attached to a power head, an air stone...they will surely make a mess with a salt tank. otherwise you should be fine.
 
So I shouldn't be worried about salty air or moisture in the garge is what I'm gathering? Is there a specific reason I see most SW setups on here open top vs glass tops? Seems like people cover FW but don't cover SW.
 
Gas exchange... plain and simple. I would agree that a sw tank is going to cause no more concern than a fw tank... and evap isn't going to spiral out of control either. I have 6 tanks in the basement... my 150 drops 3" from evap in a week... no mold, mildew, rust, etc issues.
 
Really? Wow, searching around this weekend I found a few basement threads with mold issues. My garage isn't going to be an issue though... I can open the doors anytime :) I was more worried about rust on my water heater, beer fridge (the most important item in there) and other stuff... tools / dog crate.
 
I've had my 75 in my living room for 3.5 years and no problems with salt creep. As previously stated, you should be fine if you keep your tank free of micro bubbles.
 
mrbee2828 said:
So I shouldn't be worried about salty air or moisture in the garge is what I'm gathering? Is there a specific reason I see most SW setups on here open top vs glass tops? Seems like people cover FW but don't cover SW.

There should not be salty air, the salt stays in the tank. Only the water will evaporate that is why when you replace evaporated water you don't add salt to it.
 
So I shouldn't be worried about salty air or moisture in the garge is what I'm gathering? Is there a specific reason I see most SW setups on here open top vs glass tops? Seems like people cover FW but don't cover SW.

This is mainly due to the heat issues and gas exchange cooling the water. SW tanks have much hotter running lighting than FW tanks(unless you're talking heavily planted tanks) so they need the evaporation to keep the tank temps down.
 
Dave, how big is your workshop with CNC machines?Sounds like it's a substantially sized shop. I have a 2 car garage and I'm thinking about a 55-110gallon tank. How long has the frag stuff been setup with the machinery and how near/far from the machines is it? Just curious.

No its only a small workshop,but i have 2 sumps and 4 fry tanks all with open tops,the rust will only occur on bare metal, as is on cnc machines for precise movement.as stated by others saltcreep is from bubbles,mould is also from bubbles( i had a problem in my stand with mould due to bubbles)
 
Interesting to learn how water evaporates and the salt doesn't. I guess salt damage around the beach is do to the constant agitation on the shore, thus putting the salt in the air and damaging things bear the coast. Well that's cool because I can hook up an ATO on RODI tank station since I will be setting this up in the garage.
 
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