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T.I.B.E.T (The Incredibly Big Expensive Tank)

Why thinking thing through is a good thing!

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Last night my other half, Kevin, and I are hanging out in our basement/demo central. We were trying to make a shopping list for the hardware store so that we can finish the fishroom after the delivery of our water change tank. So our shopping list starts piling up and Kevin turns to me and says "where do you want the hole for the fan exhaust?"

Way back when we had a discussion about removing the window, and bulding a vent box to sit in the frame. I thought we were still going this route. He on the other hand is convinced we talked about running our venting through the 60+ year old foundation wall. Now we have to sit down and figure out our venting all over again because winter is coming, its August 17th and this is Canada! Once the temperature drops in the next month I know if we don't address this we can expect sweaty windows, and that damp smell that a lot of basements have.

With most of the walls removed from the basement our 180g tank isn't as isolated anymore, and with the much larger open space we go through 3-6g of top off water PER DAY! So now we have two issues; 1) addressing humidity until Tibet comes online and the 180g comes down, and 2) addressing Tibet's humidity, which should be mostly limited to the tank room if we work this well. It never even crossed my mind that by blowing out all those extra walls that the impact would be so great. I need to figure out how to control the humidity from the 180g so it doesn't negatively impact Tibet's build or the house.

I hate to do it, but I'm plugging in the power sucker dehumidifyer tonight. The thing costs me an easy $20-$30/month to run. Although with the dehumidifyer running we can now expect to top off with greater frequency and volume. However I'll happily pay the price to avoid mold or any other long term issues in our house.

I really need to do some thinking on this, because I frankly didn't expect this at all.

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Tags: humidity
Categories
Tank Entry , ‎ DIY projects , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. maroun.c's Avatar
    If you still can definitly go for exhaust fans to outside the house, they're the cheapest solution to deal with not only humidity but also heat that will affect how much your chiller would run. Also exhaust fans will take out any bad smell from feeding or a full skimmer...
    If possible try to go with one or two vents for the canopy, one for the stand and one for the chiller cabinet or behind the chiller if it's in the stand.
    One option would be for the chiller exhaust to go in a hood and then into exhaust tubing to outside, For that you'll need very thick tubing.
    Checkout the exhausts I made for my stand and canopy.

    http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php...k-build-Thread
  2. michika's Avatar
    Sweet, thanks!

    We're not planning on using a chiller so far, but we've left space for one if it should be required down the road.
  3. melev's Avatar
    The vent fan is your best bet. I would only run the dehumidifier when it is necessary.