Evaporation issues and dehumidification of fish room environment.

[Parad1s3lost]

Hey all,

(skip down for a list of questions if you'd like a short summary)

As the winter approaches here in northwest CT, and the outdoor temperatures are beginning to drop along with humidity, i am facing a conundrum.

I am a college student who lives in his parents basement (loser jokes aside ). I have 5 aquariums in this closed one room apartment without any windows or outside ventilation that i am currently living and sleeping in. 3 of these 5 tanks are rather large, with a lot of surface area for vapor exchange. This has led to ALOT of humidity building up in the room, furniture etc. I can tell from the influx of bugs and other crawlies i've noticed (they're getting bigger ) around the general area. My flowerhorn just loves when spiders and other bugs fall into his tank.

Anyway. I recently rigged up a strong dehumidifier and sump pump to run and keep the relative humidity around 50%, and planned on lowering it to 40-45% when the winter comes as per recommendation on websites etc. I have already spotted black mold growing in areas behind my bar where my large fishtank is located due to spills/dripps etc that i haven't noticed to clean. This is scary, since toxic mold can be pretty harmful i hear.

So, i ran the dehumidifier. It worked. However, due to the lower humidity% in the room, the amount of evaporation from my tanks increased noticeably. I was having to add back gallons per day to them. It was becoming an uphill battle. So i shut it off.

I have always loved having open top on all my tanks, with egg crate for jumpers, but i am considering glass or plexiglass cover for these tanks to decrease this evaporation.

For those who skipped down, here are the main questions:

What are the disadvantages to glass/plexiglass etc covered tanks?

Advantages?

What material is best?

Does a cover like this affect the amount of light that will reach corals from t5 high output bulbs?

Is there any way to avoid salt creep on covered tanks?

I am considering putting covers on all of my tanks, even my sump (to an extent) so that i won't be living in a moldy cave this winter.

[charlie]

I would turn the dehumidifier back on my friend, I would rather evaporate than live with black mold!!!!!!! I top off at least 5 gallons a day, and in the summer it is about 8 gallons.

You say you live at your parents house? Why don't you talk them into adding a fan down there for you? Can you figure out a way to vent the room to the outside?

[Parad1s3lost]

The room used to be a much larger room, and then i divided it in half by putting up a partition wall and a door. There are 3 windows on the other side of the basement. I was thinking about putting a ventilation fan in the wall by cutting out a square and placing it inside, but i am not sure if that will do a whole lot.

I will most likely turn the dehumidifier system back on tonight. I was just reading about toxic mold symptoms and one of them is chronic sinus infections, which i have been experiencing for months now.

Thanks for your reply. Anyone else have mold problems caused by aquarium moisture?

[charlie]

The room used to be a much larger room, and then i divided it in half by putting up a partition wall and a door. There are 3 windows on the other side of the basement. I was thinking about putting a ventilation fan in the wall by cutting out a square and placing it inside, but i am not sure if that will do a whole lot.

In your case, ANY, type of ventilation is better then none. What volume of water are we talking about here?

[Parad1s3lost]

Not a huge amount of water, lets see, somewhere around 220 gallons between the 5 tanks. The biggest source of the evaporation is my reef tank, which is 66"x18" = 8.25 sq feet of surface area, and i have my sump inlet and an 800lph powerhead pointed toward the surface ruffling the water for aeration.

[charlie]

Oh, 220 gallons............................. I have close to 450 between the 2 salt tanks I have, and I just open windows, run 2-3 fans, and a little dehumidifier. You don't have to have them all the way open, just cracked open enuf to let air in or out. See if you can punch that vent fan to the outside in, you'll be fine.
You can't live with that mold my friend, that's very dangerous.

[Parad1s3lost]

Thank you for your replies, i'll get on that

[charlie]

Good luck man, let us know how things work out for you, would ya. This is a serious issue many of us never looked at before we dove in past our you know whats!!!! If no one else is interested, I am!!!