Fish Room Exhaust Fan

[Whasmack]

I run a Vortex S-600 exhaust fan controlled by aquarium temperature via Apex.
My Sump & equipment are in a small room in my garage and this REALLY help out. If I run it all the time, the tank gets too cold.
http://vortexpowerfans.com/s-line

It's plumbed into the canopy & tank room; I need to make a shut off for the tank room so in the summer I can run the room AC unit. My ATI Sunpower module blows directly into the exhaust fan inlet so the heat gets pulled right out.

 

[Don Lidtke]

Can you both provide the make and model of what you're using?

Home Depot
Honeywell 14,000 BTU Portable AC unit
Model number: MM14CCSBB

 

[Joe Grubbs]

Can you both provide the make and model of what you're using?

After climbing up above my DI tank to read the tag... in is the 4" Active Air fan, 165 cfm. I purchased from Amazon. My equipment 'room' is 6' square and 8' tall. I run this from my Apex with the following code. Humidity in Western Washington is high, there are intake vents in the equipment room providing a supply of outside air. With the following control I'm successful in minimizing excess humidity and controlling any mold growth in the room.

Fan's power control

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 000:00/015:00/105:00 Then ON (15 minutes run every 2 hours)
If T-PmpR > 78.0 Then ON (if the temp of the equipment room gets too high)
If Time 21:30 to 05:00 Then OFF (I don't run this at night)
If Output Fan-Refugium = ON Then ON (but, if the tank temp is high enough to turn on the refug fan, then run this fan)
If Output Heat-PumpRm = ON Then OFF (If the space heater for the equipment room is running, then the exhaust fan is off)

 

[samparker]

I use a dutch built hydroponic evac fan on a ebay humidity controller. My fish room had a ducted heating vent that I simply re-used as a humidity evac point. Mounted the fan up in the roof 10m away (although it is silent). Set it to switch on when humidity goes over 60% and forget about it. Works a treat!

unpacking:

mounted up in the ceiling (the filter is usually used on the intake, but can be used on the outlet as a type of muffler and to stop anything crawling in there when it is off!):

and i control it via one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281763043963?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[Bert S]

This is the exhaust fan I used
TD-Mixvent Multi-Purpose Inline Duct Fan 8 inch 538 CFM TD200 - See more at: https://www.industrialfansdirect.com/collections/duct-inline/products/td200#sthash.yudz5Q2Y.dpuf

 

[Ocelaris]

This is the erv we did in the basement, it's on the cheaper side. But if you are just looking for dehumidification then there are other in line options that you can pair with a balanced fresh air intake/exhaust.


It takes a contact trigger for on/off and high/low fan speeds, though you could have it always on and always on high or low. The only issue is that in low temperatures it will shut off the intake so you don't Cool the house down too much. Which is good for you home, but maybe not what you want for a fish room.

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Panasoni...0-CFM-Ceiling-Spot-Energy-Recovery-Ventilator

 

[Wes]

I've been looking at this for my new build, my fish room is a converted half bath so I'm hoping it will be an easy swap.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015615V...t=&hvlocphy=1026556&hvtargid=pla-274223216605

I really like the idea of that Panasonic humidity control, might have to give that a try so it's. It just running all day.

 

[TritonsGarden]

We used an attic fan from Home Depot
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Venting-Cooling-Ventilation-Attic-Fans-Vents/N-5yc1vZc65u

With a thermostat
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Flow-Manually-Adjustable-Thermostat-for-Power-Vent-PT6/100098472

 

[maroun.c]

I went with Turbines fitted on 4 inch tubing, for fishroom in basement went with a 6 inch one. you can direct the air specifically from location you want (back of the room or opposing end to air in to out of the house or close to an AC input in the house or maybe to the outside...
I prefer turbines as their better quality and silent, they have been running in my tank since more than 3-4 years and run 24/7 most of the year except 2-3 months of cold we get where I run them 30 min every couple of hours.

 

[ws6kid]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KWYJQY...t=&hvlocphy=9014913&hvtargid=pla-274283617125

Looks decent. They have a 12" as well. I do like the idea of an air exchange better as you would be replacing the air you are removing. Definitely seems like it would keep the pH up and the skimmer would be pulling fresher air also.

 

[wangspeed]

I'm going to use a Radon fan, since they're built to run 100% duty cycle, deal with high humidity, and you get a larger diameter one running at a lower speed to ensure low noise.

 

[d2mini]

I had one of the panasonic ones in my fish room. Great fan, whisper quiet.
We also had the AC run to that room and a return as well, which helped suck the humidity out.

 

[lactose]

I looked at the Panasonic but it doesn't run when cold out which is when I need it most in Winters in Chicago. Are there options that will run when colder? I am not very knowledgeable in HVAC. Thanks

 

[Ocelaris]

I looked at the Panasonic but it doesn't run when cold out which is when I need it most in Winters in Chicago. Are there options that will run when colder? I am not very knowledgeable in HVAC. Thanks

Most of the erv/hrv fans have some sort of shutdown mechanism in cold weather, others may be defeatable. The key is to have a controlled exhaust and intake, you can set up a damper to open only when the fan runs, otherwise having the intake for fresh air exit near the tank is probably the cheaper and controllable solution.

 

[tdjma]

Panasonic has a whisperquiet that has a humidity sensor built in

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Dang! Great info everyone! Thank you!

 

[tdjma]

Panasonic FV-11VQC5 WhisperSense 110 CFM Ceiling Mounted Ventilation Fan with Dual Sensor Motion and Humidity Technology https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005XNWP5M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_obv3ybH1GJBAW

 

[Ocelaris]

In a mixed humidity environment basically anywhere below the mason dixon line, you may not be actually lowering your humidity by drawing air from the outside which may be more humid. So a simple fresh air exchange is not really the right solution to lower humidity; it may help with CO2 exchange, but for actual lowering of humidity you need a dehumidifier which will raise the temperature.

If you go with a standard fan (i.e. not a ERV or HRV) the way I would balance intake/exhaust is to use a Make-up Air Damper. Basically it senses when you've negatively pressurized the house by pushing out air, and it opens the damper to the outside balancing the pressure. You could pipe the fresh air in anywhere you want. I've considered this, but with the ERV, it's on most of the time in my climate.

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Broan-MD8TU-8-Universal-Auto-Make-Up-Air-Damper-w-Pressure-Sensor-Kit

According to Panasonic, you can see the point where it's only exhausting 10 minutes every hour once it gets down below 20 degrees Farenheit; above 20 degrees it will do a defrost cycle, and above 32 degrees it's a normal operation.

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/ventilationfan/fv04ve1/fv-04ve1_en_installation.pdf

 

[KIRBLIT]

Im currently building my fish room and I put in 2x 6" 150 cfm Panasonic whisper green selects that are constant duty and I used pvc pipe for duct. They are dc fans and I bought a module that lets you select the cfm you want for constant air movement and then when triggered by a thermostat or humidistat they will go to full speed until the therm is good and then run for a time period you select after that before going back to the slower speed. They are completely silent, I mean silent, rated at .3 sones.

I live in Colorado so I want to keep some of the humidity and heat in my house in the winter. I have one fan that exhausts straight outside that is connected through a relay to a humidistat. I have the other fan run off of thermostat through a relay and it recircs back to the other end of my basement. I will run the recirculating fan all the time at a lower speed and the other one will come on and off as needed to lower humidity. I have a 24" grate for an air return into the room on the floor to pull in air from the surrounding area into the room. Here are some pics to give you an idea. My fish room is 11' x 15'. Second picture is the exhaust to the other end of the basement.

Can't say how it works yet because it's not ready, but just wanted to share what I did because everyone does it differently. With how tight they build houses these days just be careful with exhausting too much without some outside make up air going in your house so you don't pull a vacuum and create a dangerous situation with CO levels in your house!

 

[samparker]

Im currently building my fish room and I put in 2x 6" 150 cfm Panasonic whisper green selects that are constant duty and I used pvc pipe for duct. They are dc fans and I bought a module that lets you select the cfm you want for constant air movement and then when triggered by a thermostat or humidistat they will go to full speed until the therm is good and then run for a time period you select after that before going back to the slower speed. They are completely silent, I mean silent, rated at .3 sones.

I live in Colorado so I want to keep some of the humidity and heat in my house in the winter. I have one fan that exhausts straight outside that is connected through a relay to a humidistat. I have the other fan run off of thermostat through a relay and it recircs back to the other end of my basement. I will run the recirculating fan all the time at a lower speed and the other one will come on and off as needed to lower humidity. I have a 24" grate for an air return into the room on the floor to pull in air from the surrounding area into the room. Here are some pics to give you an idea. My fish room is 11' x 15'. Second picture is the exhaust to the other end of the basement.

Can't say how it works yet because it's not ready, but just wanted to share what I did because everyone does it differently. With how tight they build houses these days just be careful with exhausting too much without some outside make up air going in your house so you don't pull a vacuum and create a dangerous situation with CO levels in your house!

off topic reply - but wow, that build looks epic! Have a thread for the progress of that?