I am planning to build a coral grow out and fish QT setup in a basement and need some advise and guidance on ventilation, dehumidification and cooling. My concerns are the following: there were be large bodies of open water building up humidity, there are no windows so no fresh air without providing ventilation thus causing pH issues and heat build up.
Space Info: 360sqft basement, no windows, 2 entrances (one from stairwell leading up stairs and second from stairwell leading from outside storm grate).
Coral System Info: 4x 100g frag tanks, 4x 75g frag tanks, 1x 50g frag tank
Fish QT Systems Info: 6x 33long tanks
Lighting Info: A lot of LED's
My questions:
- I will be installing a mini-split AC unit (single zone). What brands are the best and what size would be recommended. Temperatures currently with nothing in the space are about 75.
- Will a dehumidifier be needed? I know mini-splits have a 'dry mode' but thats not the same as a true dehumidifier.
- For ventilation I was thinking of installing a 400cfm fan with 6" ducting blowing air outside presumably pulling air from upstairs or through cracks (2300cuft). Or would I be better off blowing in? My thoughts were this would help control humidity perhaps at the expense of loosing some cooled air.
- I know without fresh air in such an environment pH is going to be a problem. Will ventilating as planned above provide enough "fresh" air or should I plan to run some sort of airlines from outside to each skimmer. If this is the case how is this best achieved? It would be a long run would passive tubing work or would it have to be pressurized by using something like an air pump?
Anything else you can think of that I am not?
Thanks in advance for your assistance! I want to try to do this right from the start...
Space Info: 360sqft basement, no windows, 2 entrances (one from stairwell leading up stairs and second from stairwell leading from outside storm grate).
Coral System Info: 4x 100g frag tanks, 4x 75g frag tanks, 1x 50g frag tank
Fish QT Systems Info: 6x 33long tanks
Lighting Info: A lot of LED's
My questions:
- I will be installing a mini-split AC unit (single zone). What brands are the best and what size would be recommended. Temperatures currently with nothing in the space are about 75.
- Will a dehumidifier be needed? I know mini-splits have a 'dry mode' but thats not the same as a true dehumidifier.
- For ventilation I was thinking of installing a 400cfm fan with 6" ducting blowing air outside presumably pulling air from upstairs or through cracks (2300cuft). Or would I be better off blowing in? My thoughts were this would help control humidity perhaps at the expense of loosing some cooled air.
- I know without fresh air in such an environment pH is going to be a problem. Will ventilating as planned above provide enough "fresh" air or should I plan to run some sort of airlines from outside to each skimmer. If this is the case how is this best achieved? It would be a long run would passive tubing work or would it have to be pressurized by using something like an air pump?
Anything else you can think of that I am not?
Thanks in advance for your assistance! I want to try to do this right from the start...
