Tell Me About Your Tank Contributed Humidity

[Skep18]

I'm setting up my 225gal tank in my house in Mississippi. Here, the summers are hot and humid. The winters are mostly mild. Spring and fall can bring days of either little HVAC activity or running heat in early morning and AC during the day. I'm trying to figure out how proactive I should be about controlling the humidity generated from my tank.

I suspect summer months (i.e. ~7 months each year in MS) won't be an issue as the AC runs often. But the other seasons make me consider creating a sealed space around the tank equipment and employing some sort of environmental control solution. Specifically, right now I'm thinking about building a cabinet all around the tank and having a sort of chimney into the above attic where I could build some kind of small room (i.e. like 4sqft) to put a dehumidifier in. This would probably include some circulating fans, a controller, etc.

But before I go too crazy, I was hoping to hear from some of you guys. I'd be interested in...

1. What region your in
2. Your tank size
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is.
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. (I ask this as someone renting while in college may have different comfort standards than someone living in some high end custom home.)
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity.
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused.

 

[cmcoker]

1. What region your in
North Texas, DFW

2. Your tank size
54g rimless, 2 biocube a 14 and 16 lids left open to increase evaporate cooling. QT runs as needed 10 or 20g. Noticed the biggest change in humidity when went to a rimless tank, think this tank evaporates as much as my 120 with a canopy did. It is also getting a pretty direct hit from a ceiling fan that's run more often than not.

3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is.
CheapO humidity sensor reads 55 to 65;
We keep the thermostat in low 70s year round, 71 (all summer) to 74 (when it's nice out and humidity is low)

4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. (I ask this as someone renting while in college may have different comfort standards than someone living in some high end custom home.)
Newer constructed apartment, about 10yrs old maybe. Not luxury but not basic either, around 1000sqft

5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity.
AC needed to be set lower to keep humidity down, I evaporate maybe just under a gallon a day.

6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused.
Running ac more raises electric a bit but not too much to be a burden

Where is your tank going to be setup? Anyway to put an exhaust fan nearby if humidity is an issue?

 

[Skep18]

Where is your tank going to be setup? Anyway to put an exhaust fan nearby if humidity is an issue?

Definitely ty for the detailed response. That's good info. Is 65% uncomfortable?

The tank will be in the kitchen dining area. It's on tile floor in open concept kitchen. Plenty of circulation in this area. I think most months would be fine, its just the stagnant months that concern me.

 

[cmcoker]

Usually, when I have seen 65, I'm thinking "Man its humid" and go look at what it says. Then turn the air down, lol.

Luckily where we are the electric is relatively cheap. Biggest electric bill I've had so far is $125, and we have no gas anything.

We have stained concrete in the entire unit, I dont know if that makes a difference though, we generally avoid carpet if possible.

Seems like many of the people having humidity problems are in a basement or enclosed area, so it's good it's in an open space.

Is your tank gonna have a canopy?

 

[Skep18]

Seems like many of the people having humidity problems are in a basement or enclosed area, so it's good it's in an open space.

Is your tank gonna have a canopy?

+1 on that. I think basements tend to be cooler and humid anyways so running the AC doesn't work and adding a warm tank of water doesn't help.

I'm trying to plan a way to keep my house comfortable/unaffected by the tank addition. I will definitely have a canopy if for no other reason than I don't care for all the overflowing lighting that can come from an exposed top. The canopy will be built to match the kitchen cabinets so the setup will be at least ~8ft tall or however tall my cabinets are.

Right now the plan (I think) will be to seal off the "aquarium area" as if it were like a built-in wall tank. Everything interior will be well water proofed and well insulated, doors will be sealed and electronics can be run through a bulkhead or something if needed. I have no intention of keeping the area clammy though. I am running through two "easier" ideas for this.

1. I would add some chimney section to the top of the canopy to connect to the attic. Inside, I would install a humidity controlled exhaust fan which will be ducted outside. I will also run a separate intake from the outside to the bottom of my sump area as to create some upward flow as well as obviously relieve pressure differentials to allow the exhaust to actually create flow. The question/problem with this idea will be twofold. In my environment, we see 90*F, 70% RH decently often in the hot months. Will that resultant dew point create condensation issues for the amount of airflow I'll be getting? Will it even help despite the constant replacement of air within the area?
2. In this chimney section, have a small dehumidifier that is connected to a humidistat of some sort to come on to control the moisture level. The drain tank can be plumbed outside. The question here is will this be an expensive solution. Will it even be effective?

The third and final concession will be to install a whole house dehumidifier and vent the canopy. Don't want to do that necessarily but I might...

 

[NinnJinn]

1. Southwestern Indiana
2. 125gal DT 35gal sump
3. Before tank setup summers would run 40% humidity Central air unit would be set on 72 degrees and Winter's would run about 25% electric heat furnace would be set to about 75. In Winters when it would be really cold outside (below 15 degrees) I would typically run a humidifier due to having nose bleeds due to humidity getting down into the teens.

After tank setup which was earlier in the spring everything seem to be fine but once the 90 degree weather started hitting this year and I had the central air unit on humidity would typically run between 62 and 65% and when I would go to bed it felt as if I was camping outside and the dew had fallen all over my bed and pillow. The house seemed like I was inside of a indoor swimming pool at a hotel. Several times so far it was more comfortable to sit outside in the 85-degree Heat versus the 72 Degree air condition house with high humidity.

5 days ago I bought a 70 pint per day dehumidifier and although it's been running quite frequently I have managed to get my humidity down to 42% which seems comfortable to me. However I am pulling approximately 5 gallons of water a day. The dehumidifier that I bought only holds two gallons of water so to say the least I'm dumping it frequently. However since I've been running the dehumidifier I have been running the air conditioning at 74 degrees versus 72 for the last 10 years and I am quite comfortable.

I live in a 1400 square foot house that my father and I built 10 years ago. 48' long x 28' wide.

1/2 inch thick blue Styrofoam insulation under the vinyl siding and the pink fiberglass insulation in between the studs.

House is Total Electric consumed about six to seven hundred kilowatts during the summer and when it's below 15 degrees in the winter typically consume about 1100 kilowatts.

Edit: DT has a glass canopy however the sump is open I have not totally enclosed the stand yet where the sump is.

 

[Skep18]

1. Southwestern Indiana
2. 125gal DT 35gal...

Another great, very detailed response. Awesome input.

Is Indiana more of a dry or humid area?

Also, freaking bravo to building your place with your pops That's super cool.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I'm very interested in this! I know @revhtree has a large reef and I think did something about humidity. Following to learn as well!

 

[Skep18]

Yea, the more I sit and think about it the more tempted I am just to install a whole house dehumidifier. Being in a primarily humid region certainly contributes to the situation but in the end installing that will actually add value to the house. A solution involving tank specific home renovation might come close in cost and would only serve to create home features which would undoubtedly only need to be undone upon tank removal Also those benefits would be kinda for the tank only whereas the whole house system would benefit my living space more.

Now I don't now that I'm going to jump right into the whole house solution. I think I'll get the tank running to get some first hand experience with how much humidity is added. Thinking it through I think there are ways to fix any sudden humidity emergency. In the summer, run more AC. In the winter, I'm hoping the air would be drier anyways but worst case open a window and exchange tank air and waste money running the heater more. In the lukewarm months hopefully leaving a nearby window open might work. But in any month going out and buying a small dehumidifier could be done if needed.

For the record the dehumidifier cost only looks reasonable as I would be installing everything myself

 

[alton]

1. What region your in - San Antonio/ South Texas
2. Your tank size - 180
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is. 75 degrees on the T stat in summer
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. Sheetrock walls and ceilings 33 years old, central air, ceramic tile floors
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity. When I had my 300 with an open top I replaced two ac fan motors @$500 each
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused - 180 has glass tops and I use a wet dry with bio balls, not for filtration but to add oxygen to the water
7. I also use external return pump and leds to keep the heat down in the tank since the glass tops slow evaporation cooling to a minimum. My 300 I lost 6 gallons a week easy, with my 180 maybe 1 to 2 gallons a week

 

[Skep18]

1. What region your in - San Antonio/ South Texas
2. Your tank size - 180
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is. 75 degrees on the T stat in summer
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. Sheetrock walls and ceilings 33 years old, central air, ceramic tile floors
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity. When I had my 300 with an open top I replaced two ac fan motors @$500 each
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused - 180 has glass tops and I use a wet dry with bio balls, not for filtration but to add oxygen to the water
7. I also use external return pump and leds to keep the heat down in the tank since the glass tops slow evaporation cooling to a minimum. My 300 I lost 6 gallons a week easy, with my 180 maybe 1 to 2 gallons a week

Another great post!

The two fans you replaced, did you or a tech determine the cause or at least contribution to them failing was moisture? Maybe even just excessive use from more run time?

I'm very interested in the glass top solution. Did you run into heat issues? What temp was the tank with them on? Did you have lighting issues with the glass from condensation or salt creep?

Thanks again for taking the time to post!

 

[AlexG]

1. What region your in: Illinois near Chicago
2. Your tank size: Total system volume is ~1600 gallons which does not include 200 gallons of RO/DI water storage.
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is.: I keep two humidity monitors in my basement. One in the main basement area and the other in my fish room. The main basement normally runs between 35-50% humidity. The fish room humidity runs between 45-65% most days. Normally at night the humidity levels climb a little higher to ~65% but I am not too concerned as it is only at that level for a few hours a day. The rest of the house is normally around 50% humidity which is set by my house humidifier attached to the furnace/air conditioner.
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. (I ask this as someone renting while in college may have different comfort standards than someone living in some high end custom home.): I live in what would be considered a middle class home. Over the last few years I have remodeled most of the house. Protecting my home from high humidity damage is a high priority which is why I have several layers of protection in place to keep humidity controlled.
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity.: From the start of my build humidity mitigation was a very important consideration for design. Researching humidity mitigation was interesting as I learned a lot about different systems many of which are based on the climate where humidity needs to be controlled. I based my humidity control on three main points: Containment, Minimization, & Mitigation. I used a wall, door, canopy panels, and a plastic moisture barrier to create a space that could contain the humidity around the aquarium system. I added tops to my sump tanks that contain the protein skimmer and the heating coil which minimize evaporation by causing condensation to form and fall back into the sump rather than add to the humidity in the air. The humidity that is present is then mitigated via an exhaust fan with a humidistat or via a dehumidifier. Both the exhaust fan and the dehumidifier draw air from the fish room which creates a negative pressure in that space that forces air from the main basement area to be pulled into the fish room. The negative pressure helps to keep the humidity contained in the fish room rather then allowing it to naturally flow into the rest of the house. It is important to remember that moisture will travel through wood and concrete so if you don't have mitigation in place it might appear that humidity is controlled as the moisture is being absorbed by your home. Eventually though like a sponge it will get full and at that point its already too late. Once humidity is over 80% it becomes an ideal environment for mold. I posted my original video on humidity mitigation for my system below.
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused. Initially when I started the system I did not have a dehumidifier in place but after a few weeks it was needed. Once added the dehumidifier in combination with the exhaust fan keeps the humidity levels in an acceptable range. In the winter I encounter some condensation on the inside of the fish room where the plastic barrier meets the concrete basement wall which is mitigated by keeping a fan on the area to evaporate the condensation before it becomes an area that can grow mold.

 

[Skep18]

Another thought. Anyone heard of anyone else making acrylic tank lids and heating the in a brace so the center sags as to collect condensation to reduce lighting impact?

 

[Mr. Limpid]

I live 30 miles south west of Chicago. Winter are bad anywhere from 20 below to mid 30's. Lately we have no spring or fall. Summers average about in the upper 80's. Humidity is normal around here. My tank is 180 gal, I live in average 3 bedroom split level house were the half basement (this is were tank is at) is open to the living room. Average temperature in house is 63 - 76, in winter I do have whole house humidifier, central air in summer. The most recent problem was my 135 gal. tank that was used when I bought it of 26 years, seam split 2 years ago. I solved the problem by re-building my Family room ( 70 gal. of water loss) new drywall, new carpeting and re-built my stand and water proofed bottom and inside of it. My new tank is acrylic, that is the way to go. My old tank weight over 400 lb. my new one 210 lb. and the view is like have a high definition TV compared to glass tank. My filtration is simple, sump with micro algae, 130 lb live rock (live rock is the key), external nitrite filter (aquaripure), LED lights on timer, 3 power heads.

 

[Skep18]

1. What region your in: Illinois near Chicago
2. Your tank size: Total system volume is ~1600 gallons which does not include 200 gallons of RO/DI water storage.
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is.: I keep two humidity monitors in my basement. One in the main basement area and the other in my fish room. The main basement normally runs between 35-50% humidity. The fish room humidity runs between 45-65% most days. Normally at night the humidity levels climb a little higher to ~65% but I am not too concerned as it is only at that level for a few hours a day. The rest of the house is normally around 50% humidity which is set by my house humidifier attached to the furnace/air conditioner.
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. (I ask this as someone renting while in college may have different comfort standards than someone living in some high end custom home.): I live in what would be considered a middle class home. Over the last few years I have remodeled most of the house. Protecting my home from high humidity damage is a high priority which is why I have several layers of protection in place to keep humidity controlled.
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity.: From the start of my build humidity mitigation was a very important consideration for design. Researching humidity mitigation was interesting as I learned a lot about different systems many of which are based on the climate where humidity needs to be controlled. I based my humidity control on three main points: Containment, Minimization, & Mitigation. I used a wall, door, canopy panels, and a plastic moisture barrier to create a space that could contain the humidity around the aquarium system. I added tops to my sump tanks that contain the protein skimmer and the heating coil which minimize evaporation by causing condensation to form and fall back into the sump rather than add to the humidity in the air. The humidity that is present is then mitigated via an exhaust fan with a humidistat or via a dehumidifier. Both the exhaust fan and the dehumidifier draw air from the fish room which creates a negative pressure in that space that forces air from the main basement area to be pulled into the fish room. The negative pressure helps to keep the humidity contained in the fish room rather then allowing it to naturally flow into the rest of the house. It is important to remember that moisture will travel through wood and concrete so if you don't have mitigation in place it might appear that humidity is controlled as the moisture is being absorbed by your home. Eventually though like a sponge it will get full and at that point its already too late. Once humidity is over 80% it becomes an ideal environment for mold. I posted my original video on humidity mitigation for my system below.
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused. Initially when I started the system I did not have a dehumidifier in place but after a few weeks it was needed. Once added the dehumidifier in combination with the exhaust fan keeps the humidity levels in an acceptable range. In the winter I encounter some condensation on the inside of the fish room where the plastic barrier meets the concrete basement wall which is mitigated by keeping a fan on the area to evaporate the condensation before it becomes an area that can grow mold.

Thank you sir for posting I admit, I had seen your video and post in another thread. Definitely a well thought out solution for a very large tank. I think I'm personally somewhere between as my tank size 225gal is somewhere between bigger than small but still smaller than big.

Good point on the perceived humidity control could lead to unexpected issues as it could be the house absorbing the humidity.

 

[Skep18]

I live 30 miles south west of Chicago. Winter are bad anywhere from 20 below to mid 30's. Lately we have no spring or fall. Summers average about in the upper 80's. Humidity is normal around here. My tank is 180 gal, I live in average 3 bedroom split level house were the half basement (this is were tank is at) is open to the living room. Average temperature in house is 63 - 76, in winter I do have whole house humidifier, central air in summer. The most recent problem was my 135 gal. tank that was used when I bought it of 26 years, seam split 2 years ago. I solved the problem by re-building my Family room ( 70 gal. of water loss) new drywall, new carpeting and re-built my stand and water proofed bottom and inside of it. My new tank is acrylic, that is the way to go. My old tank weight over 400 lb. my new one 210 lb. and the view is like have a high definition TV compared to glass tank. My filtration is simple, sump with micro algae, 130 lb live rock (live rock is the key), external nitrite filter (aquaripure), LED lights on timer, 3 power heads.

So after 20+ years of reef keeping you've basically not encountered humidity issues. Also good input.

It's quite possible this condition is very situational and dependent on many factors, even more than just what region you live in.

 

[NinnJinn]

Another great, very detailed response. Awesome input.

Is Indiana more of a dry or humid area?

Also, freaking bravo to building your place with your pops That's super cool.

Thank You.

As of 2:55pm EST
92
48%

Typically in my area especially in July and August you walk out of your house and within 15 ft you got sweat pouring off of you literally.

 

[Dom274]

An air conditioner IS a dehumidifier. A dedicated dehumidifier is only slightly more efficient than an ac unit, with the biggest benefit being a larger storage tank. If you need a dehumidifier along with ac to keep the humidity in check, your ac isn’t working properly. Spend the money for the dehumidifier fixing/upgrading the ac.

 

[squampton]

1. What region your in: Vancouver, Canada,
2. Your tank size 34 gallon display, 9 gallon sump. Also have a 50 gallon freshwater no sump.
3. If you monitor relative humidity and/or air temp what it typically is. averages 20c in winter and 20-30c in summer depending on outside temp. Humidity is 35 to 50% range depending on season. No a/c windows open in spring and summer, winter heating when needed is electric baseboard.
4. Without getting too judgmental or anything, how "elegant" your house is. (I ask this as someone renting while in college may have different comfort standards than someone living in some high end custom home.) Pretty basic 1bed/1ba 580sq foot apartment.
5. Definitely any complications you did or did not encountered from humidity. Never have any issues.
6. How you fixed any problems you had and what, if any, unexpected consequences those fixes may have caused. N/A

 

[jda]

Near Boulder, Colorado. Humidity in the tough times is usually less than 20%. My 500ish gallons of tank humidity is an afterthought. Temps in July and August can reach 100 for an hour or two, but they are back down into the high 50s at night.... and your home never gets all that hot.

Evaporative cooling from my tanks is the biggest expense that I have to overcome... heating costs at 60-70% of my total bill.

It is amazing how different climates have such different issues.