Humidity increase, the Dark Side of the Aquarium Hobby

[Awaken_Riceball_]

There is a dark side to the aquarium hobby that is rarely discussed, and it is insane humidity increase when owning a large tank (75G+) in an apartment, condo, and duplex. I live in a duplex to keep my expenses low to save up for my dream shipping container home, but this 90G evaporation sends the humidity towards the 70% mark. Combine it with all the other humidity factors, it makes up a large portion of the problem.
How do you reduce or control humidity for large aquariums?

 

[CTYankee79]

Perhaps a tight fitting lid, and a dehumidifier? If you do the dehumidifier without a lid it’s really going to evaporate a lot of your water in the tank, so probably don’t want to do that.

 

[StarGirl]

Ok curious on the humidity factor. Mine isn't bad. And the shipping container home. What is this?

 

[BigManAquatics]

My wife gets these cups of crystals that pull water out of the air in our bathroom. Seems to help.

I usually only notice the humidity factor when i go do water changes. Quite the blast!

Shipping container homes are pretty cool. Certainly a stroke of genius when it comes to re-using/repurposing large items!

 

[veggieshark]

I am running two large dehumidifiers in my basement set to 45%.

 

[Pfrozen]

I run a dehumidifier in my tank room and there's no noticeable difference in evaporation when its on vs. when its not on. unless im just really unobservant lol. I only top it off 1-2x weekly though and I only add 1 gallon

 

[Awaken_Riceball_]

Perhaps a tight fitting lid, and a dehumidifier? If you do the dehumidifier without a lid it’s really going to evaporate a lot of your water in the tank, so probably don’t want to do that.

I honestly thought about a lid, but my thoughts are the high lights I have will get reflected or greatly reduce with the build-up of condensation or mineral deposits. Perhaps my thinking is wrong. I do run a dehumidifier, but so expensive to run a stand-alone 50pint unit that seems to run 20hrs a day.

Ok curious on the humidity factor. Mine isn't bad. And the shipping container home. What is this?

May want to invest in a Smart Thermostats to show humidity. A shipping container as Betta'sAnonymous mentioned a stroke of genius. I just love the low maintenance and the looks of it once it is all set up.

 

[LeviS]

A canopy system may help, can build it yourself there's several videos on youtube. Lol I live in Alabama,humidity is always ridiculous so I don't even notice on my 4 tanks.

 

[Awaken_Riceball_]

A canopy system may help, can build it yourself there's several videos on youtube. Lol I live in Alabama,humidity is always ridiculous so I don't even notice on my 4 tanks.

hmm really? I thought it just only meant to reduce light glare. Won't be a bad idea if it actually helps.

 

[LeviS]

hmm really? I thought it just only meant to reduce light glare. Won't be a bad idea if it actually helps.

It does reduce glare from light but it also encloses the area above tank vs open top being exposed directly to the entire room. There will be some evaporation but its not the same as a 8x10 or 14x12 room. Evaporative cooling, basically if have a fan on in the room and the air is being blown over the surface of the water and the water evaporates you will have humidity in the air, the canopy will lessen that situation.

 

[fish 321]

I honestly thought about a lid, but my thoughts are the high lights I have will get reflected or greatly reduce with the build-up of condensation or mineral deposits. Perhaps my thinking is wrong. I do run a dehumidifier, but so expensive to run a stand-alone 50pint unit that seems to run 20hrs a day.



May want to invest in a Smart Thermostats to show humidity. A shipping container as Betta'sAnonymous mentioned a stroke of genius. I just love the low maintenance and the looks of it once it is all set up.

Wait, are we talking abouth the homes made out of a conex.

 

[Awaken_Riceball_]

Wait, are we talking abouth the homes made out of a conex.

I don't know what you mean by "... homes made out of a conex"

 

[ProudPapa]

A canopy system may help, can build it yourself there's several videos on youtube. Lol I live in Alabama,humidity is always ridiculous so I don't even notice on my 4 tanks.

I'm in southeast Texas, and was thinking the same thing. The 70% humidity referred to in the first post sounds pretty comfortable to me.

 

[fish 321]

I don't know what you mean by "... homes made out of a conex"

All the shipping container homes I have seen are made out of conexes. There is even a brewery near where I live that is made entirely of conexes, they look pretty cool.

 

[AvalancheDave]

Running AC or the heater will lower humidity. Dehumidifiers are ACs that dump the heat back in the same room instead of outdoors so if it's AC weather I prefer to run the AC instead.

 

[Awaken_Riceball_]

All the shipping container homes I have seen are made out of conexes. There is even a brewery near where I live that is made entirely of conexes, they look pretty cool.

That sounds pretty awesome! It is a major life goal, and I want to live on the edge of innovation

Running AC or the heater will lower humidity. Dehumidifiers are ACs that dump the heat back in the same room instead of outdoors so if it's AC weather I prefer to run the AC instead.

According to the HVAC contractors, they informed that running the heater will not lower humidity, only AC. I am looking into a whole-house dehumidifier configuration/add-on that runs separately from the HVAC. Standalone dehumidifiers are so expensive to run.