What to do about humidity...

[robertfah]

I've got a 90g reef and a 20-30g sump in the closet, on the other side of the wall that my tank is up against. I put 2 holes through the wall; 1 for the drain and 1 for the return. The holes are the exact size of the pipe so there's virtually no sign of light of anything through them, they are tight.

One of the recent problems I am noticing is the build up of humidity/film in the closet due to the sump being open (from what I believe). Everything is kinda wet/damp and this has me worried. I put dry wall on all the walls of the closet and sealed all the areas with a sealant and put a couple of good coats of paint over everything well before the sump was in there so it's pretty protected.

Any ideas as to what I can do to get the dampness out, besides a humidifier? What if I created some type of "closed" sump where the top would have a removable lid for maintenance and whatnot, but 99% of the time it would be closed, therefore blocking any chance of the humidity escaping? Does that sound do-able or even right?

I'm open to all ideas here.

 

[thincat]

If you cover your sump, you will chance a drop in your PH. One way to stop the humidity would be to install a chiller. This would lower the temp. in the tank and also cut down evaporation and this would cut down on the amount of moisture in the closet.

 

[ccCapt]

I think your only safe options are a dehumidifier or keep the closet door open and run a fan in the closet to push out the humid air. Closing up the sump may lead to low pH issue due to a lack of gas exchange.

 

[melosu58]

I think your only safe options are a dehumidifier or keep the closet door open and run a fan in the closet to push out the humid air. Closing up the sump may lead to low pH issue due to a lack of gas exchange.

I agree. You dont want to cover up the sump.

 

[robertfah]

Ok, what about installing a fan or two (like the size of a computer fan) in the wall facing outwards, to help direct the flow and "push" the air out?

I'm really stuck here b/c I don't want to put a dehumidifier in there because it'll be 1 more thing to make noise, suck electricity and something else for me to check to empty the drain bin.

When I had my 155g, I had a 13"x8" hole in the same wall for the tubes.....yeah it looked like crap but it ws mostly covered by the tank and there was no problem with the humidity. I'm taking it that hole helped the closet air out.

Hmmm.....decisions, decisions.......

 

[WhiteDevil]

it did help with keeping the humidity lower, especially since its in a closet.

Is that closet closed often or always? I have a similar set up, filtration is behind the wall. however my filter is in a utility room in a pantry like thing and the tank is in its own room.

That hole transfered alot of air, gave the moisture somewhere to go epecially if the doors were closed.
Id paint the closet again with kilz or something of the water proofing like as well as mudding the opening so you can get some protection on the actual drywall itself.
You dont want to put a dehumidifier in there(nor a humidifier since you are dealing with excess moisture as it is) the dehumidifier would help the sump's evaporation more.

I used a piece of plexi and some of that CLEAR plastic corner protector stuff, GE1 silicone and made my sump a lid. I did leave a few inches OPEN where the sponge is at due to the shape of the sump being on an angle to go to the inlet portion of the sump. My uncovered sump behind my 52 evaporates almost 2-3x quicker then the one with the semi cover on it. I dont drop Ph because I use Co2 to control that, the only thing I notice is my Kh drops but I dont think evap has anything to do with that since I use acid and alk buffers plus equilibrium.

If you dont want it to look like crap, check those laundry hook up housings, they are plastic and come with a trim ring as well as deep enough for the wall to stop moisture from getting inside the wall itself. Seal with any caulking as it doesnt come in contact with the water.

Something like this
Washer Outlet Box: Mobile Home Parts Store

you can cut the backing out of it and have a thru wall or get two and back to back them so both sides are finished looking.

 

[Krypt]

The fan sounds like your best bet in this situation. As you said, you can just mount it up in the hole, switch it on and shoot the moist air out of the closet.