Ventilation

[themcnertney]

I have a 220 gallon tank that I recently relocated to my basement. I am planning to build couple walls around the tank, making a fish room. I need some help with ventilation. My basement is significantly cooler then the previous location the tank was in. I honestly dont think humidity will be all that bad once the room is built, but then again it is winter and I dont know what the summer will hold. Any way, I am trying to plan ahead and am looking to vent either out of the fish room to the basement or out of the fish room and the basement to the outdoors. Can anyone who has a similar setup provide some insight? Maybe some photos? Maybe some links on your exhaust fan that you are using.

 

[Drneil]

Sorry I'm not answering your question, but my tank evaporates more in the winter than the summer. I think the reason is the cold air outside is artificially heated inside causing a less humid environment that causes more evaporation. So I guess winter is more likely to cause damp.

 

[themcnertney]

Sorry I'm not answering your question, but my tank evaporates more in the winter than the summer. I think the reason is the cold air outside is artificially heated inside causing a less humid environment that causes more evaporation. So I guess winter is more likely to cause damp.

Hmm interesting.

Honestly I don't know what I will be in store once I build the fish room. Suppose I just wanted to get some insight from others such as yourself.

 

[mrpizzaface]

I would use a high quality bathroom fan vented to the exterior hooked up to a humidistat. You can set the humidistat to different humidity levels and the humidistat will activate the fan when that level is exceeded. I would use a room size calculation to determine the cfm rating you need from a fan and probably go with a fan that is over rated for the size of your fish room.

 

[SeaJay]

I'm assuming your basement is unfinished? If so, I would just run a bathroom fan outside. If you're finishing, then a ductless minisplit heat pump would be the way to go. They use inverter tech to continually remove humidity. I'm currently finishing my entire basement and using them throughout.

You can get a DIY ductless if you only need one unit. They come pre-charged so you just hang the inside unit on the wall, run the line to the outside unit and apply power. Once it's all connected you turn a valve and it releases the refrigerant into the pre vacuum sealed system. It will heat, cool and run on dehumidify. They're really versatile & efficient little systems.

I'm using the AC Infinity with humistat control to draw air out of my fishroom, which will then draw air in from finished space that uses the minisplits to remove humidity. So in theory, I will be venting the most humid air to outside and drawing in the driest air from the living space. I think it will work out well.

 

[mrpizzaface]

I think you want the fan to be able to exchange the air volume in a bathroom 8-10 times per hour. I would choose that as a minimum.

 

[lapin]

I too use an exhaust fan to the outside along with a heater/ac vent into the room.

 

[Shawn.B]

many people will just use bathroom fans to vent outside, it seems to be the most popular option.
recently i found this gem https://amzn.to/2v9hTFQ although it may take a bit more install work, i love the temp and humidity control.

 

[Quietman]

There are multi speed reversible exhaust fans you may find optimal in this situation.

 

[atoll]

Check out positive ventilation systems. Extractor fans are old tech now.

 

[SeaJay]

many people will just use bathroom fans to vent outside, it seems to be the most popular option.
recently i found this gem https://amzn.to/3863jxr although it may take a bit more install work, i love the temp and humidity control.

AC inifinity stuff is good. I use some of their fans to ventilate the vivarium for my wife's chameleon.

Here is another one of their offerings that would work good, especially since you are building walls and could easily incorporate a through-wall fan.

 

[themcnertney]

many people will just use bathroom fans to vent outside, it seems to be the most popular option.
recently i found this gem https://amzn.to/2v9hTFQ although it may take a bit more install work, i love the temp and humidity control.

YES !!!
This is what I was looking into.

From the future room to the outdoor window is about 30' away. How close to the room would I want to locate this fan?

 

[SeaJay]

YES !!!
This is what I was looking into.

From the future room to the outdoor window is about 30' away. How close to the room would I want to locate this fan?

I think you could mount it anywhere as long as the controller is in the fish room.

 

[mrpizzaface]

is there an option to penetrate the exterior wall closer to the fish room?

 

[themcnertney]

is there an option to penetrate the exterior wall closer to the fish room?

Maybe. It would require mods to the brick and house that I would prefer not to do. I have an existing basement window I would like to route to.

 

[hoju74]

Just curious...why is extra ventilation required if putting the tank in the basement ?

 

[themcnertney]

Just curious...why is extra ventilation required if putting the tank in the basement ?

The tank will be in a fish room.
It used to be upstairs in a fish room, was a in-wall setup. I just used a window fan, so venting it was simple and straight forward. With relocating to the basement, the tank is tucked in the corner, I will be building to walls making it a fish room and in-wall same as it was upstairs. I might be able to get away with just a simple bathroom fan, but really would like to vent to the outside.

 

[hoju74]

Gotcha. I'm debating putting a new 120 in my basement, but humidity issues are almost non-existent in my basement.

 

[themcnertney]

Gotcha. I'm debating putting a new 120 in my basement, but humidity issues are almost non-existent in my basement.

Most likely will be the case with mine, just exploring different avenues in case they become an issue.