Dehumidifier

[kittyj]

My husband has been complaining more and more frequently about the water running down the inside of our windows and chipping the paint on the window sills. For some odd reason, he thinks it might be due to the fact that my tank evaporates around 3 gallons of water a day. It's not like he needs another reason to hate my expensive hobby!

Is anyone else having this problem? I'm thinking I might need a dehumidifier. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Kimberly

[mskohl]

when windows don't have a good seal and it's warmer inside than outside, you will get the same results.

Now, if you didn't have this problem before you had a tank, then that directs the blame a bit.

[Travis L. Stevens]

It is most likely the cause of the problem, but couldn't tell you exactly. You might be able to get away with some way of installing a vent fan.

[kittyj]

We just moved in a year ago, so I already had the tank. I think the builder used crappy windows trying to save some money. At least that's my argument every time he brings it up.

I've been searching online, and read on one post where running a chiller keeps your tank from evaporating much. Is that true?

[Travis L. Stevens]

To an extent, yes. What your tank is doing is keeping cool with evaporative cooling. If you can find a way to reduce the heat before evaporative cooling is needed, then you'll have less humidity in the air to deal with. So, whether you use cooler running bulbs, smaller heaters, chiller, or even less fans would depend on your tank.

If it helps any, been there, done that, still there. My 29g tank evaporates about 2 gallons a day, so I get a lot of excess moisture. My whole house humidity stays between 55-60%. Ironically, I don't get too much condensation on the windows but it is still prevalent on days where the house doesn't have the heater on and it's stayed closed up for a while.

[kittyj]

Travis, are you running a chiller?

[kittyj]

Actually, for those of you who ARE running chillers, how much of a drop in evaporation did you see after you began using it?

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by kittyj
Travis, are you running a chiller?

Nope. Purely evaporative cooling on a 29g tank with a 250w MH. I keep my tank temp a constant 81-82ºF, though I can drop it down to 77-78ºF without heaters. But then the temperature changes in a 24 hour period would vary drastically.

[TheMcs]

Kim, I think Stephanie hit the nail on the head. We have old crappy windows in our house that sweat. They did that before we had a tank in the house.

[pwhitby]

A chiller does not help lower evaporation....not directly at least.

Evaporation is a function of temperature and humidity. As your tank temp rises so does evaporation. So a tank at 82F evaporates more than a tank at 78F. - Thats the difference. But of course thats at a cost in electricity.

If you really want to stop evaporation, place a glass sheet over the tank, but only do this if you have a very good skimmer to ensure the water is oxygenated.

Another way is to completely enclose the hood and use a ductwork to remove the warm air....but thats rather ugly.

One other tip, reduce the splashing of the water as much as possible. This really speeds up evaporation.

But.....for every decrease in evaporation you make, the warmer your tank will become since it can not lose heat.

A dehumidifier works extremely well, but they can be quite costly to purchase and to run.

HTH
Paul.

[TulsaReefer]

Many aluminum windows will sweat when it is cold enough outside and warm enough inside. Really can't guarantee that a dehumidifier would actually help a lot, and it might make it seem more uncomfortable in the end. Too dry of air is not very comfortable or healthy to be in. I've actually had my wife say she was glad that the tank evaporates quite a bit, otherwise the air in the house is so dry in the winter it's a bit uncomfortable when our gas heat runs. We don't often get any major condensation on the windows, except a little on the north side of the house, and only then when it's really cold and windy. But I know our previous house was terrible, so bad that one winter we had ice building up on the inside of the window frames. And I didn't have a tank at that house, so it must have just been us. Just taking a nice hot shower will put quite a bit of humidity out, so I'm not sure if you could say it was all the fault of the aquarium, but I guess it's hard to prove either way.