Humidity and its side effect, Mold

[ronrca]

Keeping fish is always an enjoyment for all age groups and the majority of hobbyists keep at least one tank if not more in their homes. Many commercially bought packages include lids that help keep in water from evaporating and not causing the humidity to rise. However, there are many hobbyists that see lids as a nuisance when performing maintenance on a regular basis. In some cases, bedrooms are made into ‘fish rooms’ where a large number of aquariums are located. When the humidity rises, mold will start to grow. Mold is very dangerous to your health. Mold can grow anywhere and everywhere. It does not need light or air to reproduce and is harmful even when dormant. Therefore unless steps are taken to reduce the humidity, you may be risking you and your families health. Keeping the relative humidity below 50% will help keep mold from growing.

Please read the following link particularly the column on the very right hand side:
www.mold.ph

For your information, read this page under the heading Mold Basics:
http://www.moldinspector.com/ohsa-mold-guidelines.htm

What to do to reduce humidity:
-First is get a humidity meter
-Get a dehumidifier
-Vent the room where the most humidity is present by installing a fan venting to the outside
-opening windows and doors allowing the air inside to be released to the outside
-wiping up water spills and leaks that so commonly occur when cleaning tanks
-using covers on all the tanks


There are many more resources available on the web to educate yourself about mold, its effects and how to reduce it. I hope that this short article will inform and warn of the possible side affects of having aquariums in their homes.

[henryD]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Great service announcement and info!!!

[jeep]

Good post Ron!

I live on a hill and my neighbors ILLEGALLY re-graded their back yard in an attempt to "direct the water to it's natural flow". Unfortunately for me, the natural flow is right into my crawl space. The first time it rained hard, it cost me a new furnace and created a nasty mold problem that has taken a long time to get rid of.

Brian

[lauris]

jeep, one word: litigation.

[jeep]

I forgot to say I care for these people like they were my grandparents ;)

[Ardan]

Nice Job Ron! 8) 8)
Humidity can really damage a home, especially in the homes of today that are so airtight for energy savings.

Very informative posting, Ron. Many people forget about the hidden causes of gases (molds, carbon monoxide, etc.). Now that winter is heading towards us all we mustn't forget about the dangers of hidden gases and CO is a known deadly gas that can kill in an instant with any appliances using gas and/or oil and other chemical combustions. Please folks always keep an open window somewhere in your home for oxygen to enter and dilute these deadly gases in a home, car, boat and anywhere enclosed with a burning appliance (using gas and/or oil).

Brian (Jeep): very kind of you but let's hope they are kind to recognize your ordeal now that you had to fork up some funds for a new furnace. Best wishes to you.

Peace, Love, Flowers & Discus to ya!
**Angie**

[ronrca]

Angie,
You mention carbon dioxide though isnt it carbon monoxide, the silent killer?

Then there is natural gas and propane build up also from leaky connections and such! Natural gas is bad if you have a leak in the basement because it is heavier than 02 therefore if you were to enter the basement full of natural gas, you dont have much chance of breathing.

Oh, gee... Sorry guys & dolls!! I goofed at recalling which is which... It is indeed, Ron, Monoxide. Yipes ;D ;D

People: It's Carbon Monoxide (CO) the killer.

Thanks again Ron! :D

**Angie**

[JDS]

there is a plus side to high humidity in the house. I heat my house with a hot air and I don't have a static cling problem anymore. ;)

[Haywire]

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is prodiced from incomplete combustion, get your furnaces tuned.
It's not just CO you have to worry about a buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) is also health risk.

Get a good quality detector and place it in the recommended locations i.e., to the garage (if one's attached to the house) and near your gas burning appliances. A cheap tool that may save your life.

Venting: Leaving a window open in my nexk of the woods would freeze my water in the fish tanks. Really, c'mon, most new houses although they are less drafty, are NOT air tight. Placing a bathroom fan vented to the outside on a timer is also a good way to vent moist air outside. In fact that might be next months project as I've noticed I loose about a 2 gallons of water a day to evapouration.

[Kap]

Ron,
Thanks for the information, and for the mold links. We all need to read it for the sake of our families' health!

--kap

[aloha_discus]

Aloha Ron, this info you have past on is right on time. I have already battled mold when I first constucted my fishroom. My new fishroom will have an air exchanger and a dehumidifier. I plan on having at least 100+ tanks when done.

Mahalo, Ike ;D :o

[wildthing]

I recently moved house & to prevent a humidity problem I purchased the air-exchanger from Jehmco.
Until it was set up the humidity was around 85%-90%, windows, doors & all cool surfaces were constantly wet.
This machine uses only a max of 1 amp of power ( Vs 15-20 amps for de-humidifier). I can control the humidity in a 1200 sq' fish basement to within 5%, with a minimum level of around 35%, this is a lot less than the ambient humidity. My fish room is so comfortable to be in now.
This thing cost around $900, it is a piece of cake to install, you just hang it & vent it, most of the damp goes out with cold air, condensation inside the machine is minimal & piped away into a drain .
For anyone worried about damp & damage to their house, or mould & health, this is way less $$$s than the health or repair bills will be. Heat loss is minimal, it is very cheap to run. Anyone who has problems should get this. It can also be plumbed into forced-air systems or boilers etc & do the whole house, tho I have mine on a dedicated system.
It is one of the best gadgets I have invested in.

hth

David

[ronrca]

Thanks David for that info! Id have to agree, my dehumifer runs at 6Amps and is on for around 90% of the day! One thing it does good though is raise the temp in the fishroom so my heaters dont come on. So I guess Im not really using more power! I will check into the air exchange since I will b moving my fish room downstairs into a bigger area! ;)

[Dave C]

I have the same thing David. Mine is tied into my furnace. It draws humid air from all 3 bathrooms and pushes that outside. Then it brings cooler, dry air in from outside, heats it with the outgoing air and pumps that into the furnace where it goes to the rest of the house. My humidity sits around 35%. These things don't work that well in the summer when the humidity outside is really high though.

You can also give the bedroom/fishroom a coating of Killz before you set up. Slap a coat on any walls prone to getting a splash or thats going to exposed to high humidity.

We use it in bathrooms when remodelling and repairing homes. Seals the surface from whats already there, if any, and prevent anymore on that surface.

[Dave C]

That may help with mold but high humidity will destroy your house in time.

Right as usual Dave

I was thinking more for anybody small scale worried about their bedroom or some corner in their basement, stop it from getting into the drywall in that one "back room"

[jn4u]

Please understand that there are not that simple to say "Keeping the relative humidity below 50% will help keep mold from growing", how much water air is caring depends on the temperature in the room, It's a hell worse to have high relative humidity high temperature then low.

The only solution to the problem is not to get an expensive dehumidifier. As in the winter you have cold temperature and low relative humidity then you have high evaporation. But still in the summer if you have a high temp and normal relative humidity the air carry more water and you get more problem.

The best solution this problem is to make total covers on all the tanks, use silicone tight all holes. This help to fight the evaporation the cause of the problem in a fish room.

Next step glass or Plexiglas that lower the heat exchange between the air and the tank. "Dress the tank" to lower the heat exchange and lost to the room with a good material. Change the material in the top of the tank very you have the exchange. This lowers the heating cost. But this is first prime.

Last step is if nothing of this work to get a dehumidifier or even better to make the fish room as a bathroom and install a heat exchanger. This is more as a small peat shop.

"I work as a software engineer at Fläkt Woods AB, manufacture of ventilation and air conditioning systems. The new Fläkt Woods Group has operations in more than 30 countries, employs 3 500 people and has a turnover of 500 million Euros." ;)

Well U have to get $$$$ from something. When it's not discus, Well I had a talk with the researchers this day at the lunch. 8)

http://www.flaktwoods.com

[susankay1]

Just a thought. Dehumidifiers dont have to be expensive. I recently visited friends in Fla and while I was there, we went to the Salvation Army store. I picked up a huge Whirlpool dehumidifier for $10.00. When I got it home, I cleaned it up and switched it on and it worked great!
So keep an eye :mickey: out for bargains. We are very sensitive to mold in our household and we could quickly feel a difference in the air when the humidity started to drop.

[jn4u]

My point was, keep things simple and stupid, and get to the root of the problem, the evaporation from the aquariums. And you solve this by using covers on all the tanks.

Not with, humidity meters, dehumidifier etc. That's only the next step if the first don't work.

It's no different to when discus gets sick and you get medicine after medicine when the causing is that you feed to much food. My opinion is get to the root of the problem.

It's not to offend "ronrca", I just share my opinoin ;)

[ronrca]

No offense! You do bring up a valid point with humidity vs. temperature! By measuring the relative humidity, as far as I understand, you take both factors into account. The definition 'relative humidity' is a measure of the amount of water in the air compared with the amount of water the air can hold at the temperature it happens to be when you measure it. Using a relative humidity meter, I assume this to be the case! I could be wrong though!

Putting covers on the tanks is a must because of evaporation (plus preventing suicide)! It was one of my points on reducing humidity!


The best solution this problem is to make total covers on all the tanks, use silicone tight all holes. Im understanding this as totally covering the tanks and using silicon to fill any holes. Bad idea as there is no 02/C02 exchange if totally enclosed tank. You can not cover a tank 100% but this may not be what you mean! Even just covering 90% of the tank will help significantly! However, this may not be enough plus some people find lids a nuisance therefore the the awareness of this article! ;)

[jn4u]

Well understand that I'm crazy from work, I sitting all day and implements formulas and calculation with heat exchangers. Normal U has to consider a lot more factors than only the relative humidity if you get problem. Walls etc... But I still get the point

I don't want to boor you with molliercharts, wall facts, temperature etc. In a normal room is good to have 50 rh[%], But some thing when they have weather outside that give a high rh[%] that there aquarium that is the cause.

It's like a person that tells he have pH of 4 and dKH= 10...

8)

[susankay1]

I have this neat little gadget I bought at the drug store. It's made by Vick's and it tells the temp and relative humidity. It also has a graph at the bottom that shows the healthy range and what to expect if it's too dry or too humid. Makes life real simple when it comes to figuring the humidity indoors. ;D

[jn4u]

1: Take a thermometer, [°C] ;D, Take a reading. Put on y-axis.
2. Let water stand in the room.
3. Take a material and soggy in water, wrapp around
the thermometer sensor. Shake in the air. Make a reading of the
wet point.
4. Put in the "x" = vt line.
5. Make the point in the middle.
6. Read the relative ... to what it is.

I use this metod in the labb. with spec... typ of thermometer. We don't use
digital instruments. :P

[Willie]

Dave C makes a good point about the weakness of air exchangers. I have about 600 gallons going in the basement. Every tank has tight covers and all the tanks are wrapped with styrofoam. The place is very comfortable in the Winter, but gets hot and humid in the Summer.

I was all set on getting an air exchanger until the missus asked how that would help in the Summer time. I don't like the dehumidifier because it gets too hot in the Summer also. After not spending any money, I think the simplest solution is to install a window air conditioner!

Willie

[Ardan]

Hi Willie,
I run the dehumidifier in the winter and the air conditioner in the summer. Its the only way. (Wisconsin is humid in the summer anyway. (I don't like that part)

[Scrappi_tt]

I had an major mold incident where mold was constantly growing on my aquarium covers which were made of wood. Eventually i got fed up because after I wiped it down, it kept growing back. So i decided to varnish the hood and it stopped growing....... ::)

Yea i know, it's kinda a senseless story but...............

[Willie]

I don't understand how an air exchanger will work in the Summer time when the outside air is 90F and 90% relative humidity. Someone please educate me. Wouldn't it make more sense to install an air conditioner?

Willie

[Denny]

Willie

I would ask Al Matheson if he has any input on the air exchangers, if he doesn't know, I bet one of his co workers would.