Installing a fan with a humidistat attached to it???????

by **JerseyWeisGuy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:31 pm

First, Hello all. Since this is my first post a little background. I had a 55 saltwater tank while in College about 15 years ago. Didn't know what I was doing, didn't test the water, just listened to the local pet store guy who I now realize also didn't know what he was doing. Loved the tank and all the insane fish I had (before they all died off one by one), but I had things that were totally inappropriate for the size of my tank and the other inhabitants.

Fast forward to now. I've done my reading and when I finished the basement in my house designed an spot for an in wall 125 tank. Found a good fish store with smart employees and bought all top of the line equipment. I have much more modest goal for # of fish and types, and mostly just want the tank to be eye catching and successful. Soft corals nothing too testy and some nice community fish and shrimp, etc.

Now for my current question (of which there will be many more I'm sure). I have everything in my house now and just finished painting the back and sides of the tank - what a pain that was!!! The tank is positioned so that the front can be seen from the main room of the basement (behind the bar) with no access from the front. The room behind the tank is the bathroom which has a door which when opened reveal the back of the tank. I hope that's somewhat clear. The LFS guy suggested that I install a fan which would run off a humidistat (which I could tap into the bathrooms exhaust fan duct) to relieve some of the humidity that will be created. He said I could run into a mold issue otherwise and/or rust out any pipes up in the ceiling above the drop ceiling. Sounded like a reasonable suggestion. My electrician thought it might cause a lot more evaporation if I have a fan running all the time and that it might be more trouble than it's worth.

Finally the question - has anyone had issues with humidity from their tank and would you suggest doing the humidistat and fan? It isn't a cheap solution as I estimate the fan and humidistat to run me $250-300 by the time it's installed.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

by **a1k8t31524** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:34 pm

why dont you just hoom up a regular exaust fan and just run that during the time that they lights are on.... seems like a much cheeper option to me..

by **JerseyWeisGuy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:44 pm

I thought of that too, I guess the only draw back to that is that the fan will be on then regardless of the humidity. If it has a humidistat attached, theoretically it will only pop on when needed during the day, and probably much less often in the summer when there is more humidity in the air in general and thus less evaporation happening.

by **a1k8t31524** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:48 pm

well pare of the humidity problem will be coming from the evaporation that comes off the heat from the lights.... and the heat is another issue if everything is enclosed there will be a buildup of heat anyways, if your tank has a good top on it and is "sealed" well on the top you will get less evap and less humidity but you will still have the heat since you have a 125 in that wall i am assuming that you have a massive amount of lighting are you wsing MH? for lighting? either way it would be smart to get that heat out of there too you could hook the fan up to a timer too so that it only runs for say 30min at a time... i dont think you need to drop another 300$ into a "fancy" exaust i think it would just be a waste and something you could do for around 50$

by **JerseyWeisGuy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:07 pm

Yep using MH although the top is "open" - meaning it just has dry wall running up to the ceiling on either side.

by **Deltasigpony3648** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:24 pm

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

this is a nice strong fan if you tap into the bathroom duct which is really easy and just have it on a timer to run for 5 to 10 min every 30 min. and just have a good auto top off

by **gdeeber** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:49 am

JerseyWeisGuy:

I am in the middle of doing the same project as you. I am finishing my basement and building a fish tank in one of my walls. My original plan is to pipe into the bathroom exhaust fan and have the fan in the tank room run constantly. I do not know how large your tank room is, but mine will be 8'x8' so heat and humidity will be a big problem. Having the fan run all the time will be an expense but the alternative of not having a fan in the tank room is creating an environment where mold will grow and once you get mold it is very difficult to get rid of. Not to mention all the health problems associate with having mold in your house. Just bite the bullet and install the fan and humidistat or if the room is small use a timer or have the fan run all the time.

by **JerseyWeisGuy** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:43 pm

I think the end solution is going to be a humidistat above the tank with a duct there that will run back to an exhaust fan located in the boiler room so it's easier to access if it needs service. I'll tap into the bathroom vent to get outside instead of putting another hole in the house. I wouldn't want to run the fan full time because that would actually cause lots of evaporation. This way the fan will only run sporatically.

by the way the tank is 125 gallons - 6 ft long

Installing a fan with a humidistat attached to it???????

8 posts