fishroom help...ventilation and heating

[KJoFan]

I will be moving into a house very shortly and plan to convert the unfinished portion of my basement into my fishroom. The space is cement floor with some cheap vinyl flooring over it and the walls are just cinderblocks. They are painted but with what kind of paint I don't know. The ceiling is just typical rafters like any unfinished basement would have. The space is rectangular mostly with dimensions of roughly 22'x15'.

I estimate I will be maintaining around 1000 gallons of water in fish tanks plus about 150 gallons of stored water.

The furnace, A/C, and water heater are also located in this room. The other half of the basement is finished and the furnace and A/C vents into this portion but not into the unfinished part.

My questions are, about a third of my tanks will be on a central filtration system that I can just heat at the sump, so I think I will leave it at that, assuming that is efficient enough? I haven't used a central filtration system before.

The rest of the tanks will probably be heated individually. Does this seem like a practical way to go? If not, what do you suggest instead?

My second and probably larger concern is about ventilation. With the gallons in that space, in the basement, will I need some kind of ventilation system (air exchanger or dehumidifier)?

Any input you guys have on any of this or anything else you know of that I should be aware of or look into please feel free to post about it. I want to do this as right as possible from the start.

[Tropical Haven]

Karen,
Sounds like you have a pretty good idea what you want to do. Heating your central system at the sump is absolutely fine with individual heaters in the other tanks. As of humidity it all depends on your budget. If you have the extra cash I would definitely get a air exchanger.

[KJoFan]

Well, seeing as how I just bought a house and will have to buy an entire kitchen full of appliances and such cash will be tight for a little while. But that's not to say I wouldn't do something about humidity if need be. I don't want to ruin the house. I guess my plan was to just go ahead with my plan and have something in the room to monitor the humidity if it gets high and stays high then look into something to help with that. A dehumidifier wouldn't be of much use or sufficient you think?

[Tropical Haven]

A decent dehumidifier would be ok, but would definitely run a lot. You need to do something for humidity before you finish your fish room because with all those tanks you will have humidity in there.

[KJoFan]

So efficiency wise....it's best to go with an air exchanger you're saying?

[pcsb23]

Karen, if there is easy access to the outside then venting to the outside is the way to go imo, things like humiditstat controlled fans are cheap and effective, its what I use. I don't know what sort of temps you may get through the seasons which may influence things. Heating the sump works well btw.

[KJoFan]

Access to the outside would be had by ground level windows. There are a couple in that space if I recall correctly. Temps can get in the upper 90's in the summer with 80%+ humidity some days, to below zero in the winter. Those of course are the extremes, with the majority of the days not reaching those levels, but it can happen.

The only other access to the outside would have to go through cinderblocks I imagine.

[Greg Richardson]

Karen. 150 gallons storage for 1000 gallons?
Do you have something else in mind?
Am I missing something?

[KJoFan]

The part you're missing Greg is that not all tanks will be discus tanks. Right now my discus tanks total 185 gallons. This may go up a bit as I split some off but not dramatically and not all at once. So as the discus tanks multiply, then I will look into more water storage. I just wanted to post this thread with the max gallons I could be running at any one time so that I can have sufficient ventilation for when that day arrives.

Plus, I could only round up two 55 gallon storage barrels right now, to go with my Brute.

[billeagan]

Give John at Jehmco a call - I would go with what he says.

I imagine he is going to recommend an air exchanger.

Bill

[Greg Richardson]

Karen. There ya go! LOL! That clears it up.

[Graham]

While an air exchanger would be the way to go, keeping that heat in the house not pumping it out.

The cheaper way to go is a de-humidifier. I use a large one in the koi house. The tanks (2500 & 750) are heated to 78* so they give off a pile of moisture. The unit keeps the humidity down in the 60% range and with the added bonus of heating the building also.

So even in the middle of Feb it's about 70* in there + himidity.

The unit is mounted above one of the filters so that it drips continually back into one of the filters

[billeagan]

While an air exchanger would be the way to go, keeping that heat in the house not pumping it out.

The cheaper way to go is a de-humidifier. I use a large one in the koi house. The tanks (2500 & 750) are heated to 78* so they give off a pile of moisture. The unit keeps the humidity down in the 60% range and with the added bonus of heating the building also.

So even in the middle of Feb it's about 70* in there + himidity.

The unit is mounted above one of the filters so that it drips continually back into one of the filters

The air exchanger that John sells keeps the heat in the house.

If you are not worried about keeping the heat in you can just use a regular bathroom fan.

The problem with a dehumidifier is air circulation and the cost to run that tiny fan. Although the air exchanger is going to cost more in one time expense the cost of running it is nothing. I believe I figured the cost of running the air exchanger to be equivalent to running a tv or two in your house.

[Jason]

if your budget is tight shop around for the hrv/erv. If you install in yourself it can bve done for under $600 compare that to the cost of running a dehumidifier 24/7

[Graham]

The air exchanger that John sells keeps the heat in the house.

If you are not worried about keeping the heat in you can just use a regular bathroom fan.

The problem with a dehumidifier is air circulation and the cost to run that tiny fan. Although the air exchanger is going to cost more in one time expense the cost of running it is nothing. I believe I figured the cost of running the air exchanger to be equivalent to running a tv or two in your house.

Bill around here it costs about $20 a month to run the de-humidifier 24/7.