Humidity? What's your experience?

[lutz123]

In planning way ahead, I'm curious about humidity issues with reef tanks.  Is there any kind of tank size/room size threshold where you know you'll have to implement a dehumidifier?

 

I've seen recommendations to use glass lids to trap evaporation, but that opens the door to other issues.  I'm curious to hear experiences. 

 

My 75 gallon with sump will go in our two story family room and I don't expect issues at all there.  On the other hand, I don't know why I was surprised that my 3 gallon picotope and 16 gallon Nuvo (covered) create a touch of heat and humidity in my 12x12 home office.  I had been considering switching them out for a 30ish gallon cube in my office but am hesitating now.

[Origami]

I let my house HVAC unit deal with (distribute and sometimes remove) the humidity caused by my tank. My tank is in-wall with a fish room holding most of the humidity. I'm kind of lucky in that I have a HVAC return duct in the room that I open up to the room. This allows humidity to be pulled in when the air handler is operating and to distribute the humidity through the house in the winter or for the HVAC unit to remove in the summer. It's like a built-in whole house humidifier that way and is a good thing since we need to maintain a good humidity level for my daughter's baby grand piano.

 

I've seen other people have problems with humidity. For example, Steve (of Quantum Reefs) had a problem in the basement of his townhome when he set up a tank in the finished basement. The tile floor was always slightly wet feeling. I've seen condensation on cold ductwork leading to dripping water and water damage. I've also seen corroded duct work from long term exposure to very high humidity.

 

Dehumidifiers add heat. If the heat exchanger is in the same room as the humid air, then it warms the room (which arguably increases evaporation). Exhaust fans move the humidity outside, but can also take heated / cooled air out with it in the winter / summer. (There's a device called a Heat Recovery Ventilation System that attempts to minimize the heat loss & associated expense.)

[davidm]

I think it's important to measure how much your top-off is each day.  It will different for different lights, sumps, et cetera, even if the tank is the same size.  I was once replacing 3.5 gallons a day with kalkwasser - tank loved the Ca but my wife was not too happy when she found out it was raining inside the attic.  Once I covered the tank, and switched to LEDs the evaporation went down to 0.5 gallons a day.

[gmerek2]

If you use A/C in the summer you should be fine. In the winter when my house air dries out, the tank acts as natural humidifier. I keep and have always kept a dehumidifier in my basement. tank is on first floor. With The new dehumidifiers you can set to desired humidity level.

[londonloco]

I know freshwater keepers that have many tanks (I'm talking >than 20, one vendor Rachel in Pa has over 50 tanks in her basement) do install fans and dehumidifiers that exit out of the house in their fish rooms.  In my cichlid breeding days, I had 16 tanks in one room and never had a problem.  

[Coral Hind]

I never had a problem with large tanks in my house, even in basements. I do have a little humidity issue now with my tank in the garage during the winter. Because the windows and garage doors are cold from the outside the humidity condensates on them. The biggest producer of humidity is my skimmer. SInce I have the air intake to the pump now drawing air from the collection cup the humidity is greatly reduced and also less smell. 

[reefmontalvo]

I had issues in the past with humidity. All thoughts are great dehumidifier in the summer and nothing in the winter. But I found during the springs and fall months were the outside air temperature is in the 70's, it's best to open a window or three and allow the air to flush the house removing that humidity. I at one point was running a 70 pint a day dehumidifier in the summer. But again I had a downstairs condo, very cool in the summer almost a basement type.

[hawkfish01]

Ive never hsd humidity issues with any of our tanks...we have a 20,40 breeder& a 14 biocube..most r covered to a degree... With loose fitting plexi or eggcrate...with a/c in windows we were having to top off ever other day or so.. But as far as wet feeling..nope..