Fish room & humidity problem

[Leaf]

What do people do to control humidity in their fish room or fish area?

I'm looking to try and reduce the humidity in my fish area. It's not quite a room - it's a large section of an unfinished basement.

I have a dehumidifier running and a decent circulating fan on the other side of the basement. However, as my fish tanks have grown (size and number..), so has the humidity increased.

I was thinking about hooking up an exhaust fan, similar to what is in your typical bathroom setup. Since it's in the basement I thought I would try and use the same exhaust duct as the clothes dryer.

Anyone have other ideas or suggestions? (Besides reducing the number of fish tanks.. )

Anyone see potential problems or pitfalls with my solution?

Thanks!

 

[Bearfan]

Do not use the same vent as the dryer. That needs to be a dedicated exhaust due to the heat issues. You don't want to restrict the exhaust from a dryer with another fan.

 

[GrndHog]

A dedicated bathroom exhaust fan would work well but I would think there would be a noise issue. If you go that route, I would research and find a quite one.

 

[fish_doc]

Tight fitting lids on the aquariums help minimise the evaporation of water in the tanks. I am not referring to air tight lids like jars but instead unnecessary cut outs for filters that are no longer there and such.

 

[youronlysin]

a 50lb sack of silica gel? 8O

An exhaust fan would work I would think. It would work even better if you could get the inlet to the exhaust fan about a foot off the floor. Try using some duct material or something....you should be able to make something work without looking too ugly.

 

[bound_for_obx]

Humidity decreases the Density of air. If you go the vent route put the intake close to the ceiling. Also do not tie into the dryer line. Doing so will encourage lint to build up within the line and increase your chances of a fire.

 

[ellisz]

I have been looking at the same thing. My fish room is under my stairs to my basement and is basically a long narrow closet. I wish I would have thought about it before I finished the basement

I have looked at some fans at HD. They list decibel levels so you can kind of tell how loud they will be. Since mine is in a separate room noise is not a huge concern for me. I thought of just getting a cheap one but if it runs 24/7 I doubt the lifespan will be very long. Might spend a bit more to get a continous use fan.

I have vent duct in a adjacent exhaust fan for my basement bathroom. I will most likely tie into this. The bathroom does not get used much anyway.

It is on my to do list 8)

 

[Guest]

Hummm......I live in the dry desert SW. I do backflips when the humidity rises.

As mentioned. Don't tie into your dryer exhaust. Is there a window in your basement you could use by placing a fan to vent?

In the winter you could use a small electric heater to help dry the air. Summer's this would obviously be impractical.

How big is the basement? If its really big it would take a very large dehumitifier.

Maybe you could throw a wall up, makeing your fish room smaller. Thus increasing the benefits of a dehumidifier. Toss in a ventilation system and it might work. A faux wall really isnt that hard to construct.

 

[youronlysin]

Window Air conditioners also de-humidify very well. You probably dont have a window though, or do ya? I would imagine exhausting a fan would be easier had you a window.