Fish Room - Light, Heating And Humidity

Rorie · Jan 17, 2012

Hey everybody.

Its been a while since i've posted - been moving house and all that. I am now in my new house and this week my fish room build will start! Exciting times! I am happy with some aspects of the build, but unsure on others

My electric bill at home is high due to the aquariums. I need this to reduce!

1) Heating/Humidity

I plan to heat the room, to around 26 degrees. I will have heaters in the tanks, but obviously those kept at 26 degrees shouldn't come on, and those that need a bit warmer (my breeding discus) will only be heating a few degrees. The idea is to keep the electricity bill down!

BUT, with the room being warm, i am obviously worried about the humidity in the room. The tanks will all have lids covering as much as i can, but there will still be humidity. What can i do? If i put in an extractor fan, will it not just pull all my heated air away? De-humidifier is another option, but expensive and not cheap to run. Ideas?

2) Lights

Just now i have the normal tube lights. But i was wondering about LEDs. I see that you can save UP TO 50% on electric....but they are super expensive to buy in comparison to £1 tubes (i don't use aquarium tubes). So is there cheaper LED options? Or do i need to light the tanks at all?! What if i just light the room? The tanks at the bottom are likely to be dark.... this can't be ideal for the fish? Though i hear it makes no difference to them...... but on the other hand, the fish have no colourings when the lights are off, so this could make breeding difficult?

Thanks

smokeyjo · Jan 17, 2012

Great idea mate. I haven't a clue about the humidity problem some1 else may be able to help with that. But I've seen on ebay u can buy leds for the aquarium for somrthing like 5 pound for 10 meters not 100 percent on the length but they were definatley 5 pound that may be worth looking into I personally want lights so you can see the fish properly. Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing pics lol.

Tizer · Jan 17, 2012

gonna have to line the room with a vapour barrier, all fish rooms end up with wet floors, so make sure you got something down you can mop easily. shed loads of "my fish room" threads on this forum and others out there, Ste in Chester probably has one of the best fish room threads on the british cichlid forums.

Tolak · Jan 17, 2012

Heat rises, warmer air holds more humidity. An exhaust fan higher up on a timer does wonders for removing humidity, there is some heat loss in the room, money out the window. I've seen setups with no ventilation, it starts with a bit of mold, wall coverings fail, ceilings fall in, structural members rot given enough time. The slight loss of heat ventilating is much less than the eventual repairs needed by not ventilating.

Plan where you want cooler air coming in, lower & diagonal from where you vent provides a good flow. Also plan warmer tanks at the top (the breeding discus) and cooler tanks at the bottom. The usual tank tops shops sell are junk for sealing tanks, look into light diffuser panels cut to fit the whole top of every tank. If it saves materials cover more than one tank at once.

Room lights are fine, especially if you do go with the diffuser panels. I've played with tank lights, flouro fixtures lighting multiple tanks, and so on, and have found that clamp on work lights with cfl's for working on tanks work best for me. In my 8'x16' room I have 2 ceiling cans that provide room light, a glass block window that provides free light, and a few clamp lights that I can move to wherever needed for tank maintenance & so on.

I totally agree with the floor, plan on getting it way wet, a mop should be on your list of things to buy.

Rorie · Jan 18, 2012

Thanks for the replies.

Flooring is a good point which I have got sorted – I am even planning on building in lips in the waterproof floor covering to avoid any going behind the tank frames. I have considered putting a slight gradient into the floor so there is a trough in the middle of the room with a drain at one end. The drain can also be my waste water drain.

My knowledge of extractor fans is limited I’m afraid.... I am ‘extracting’ air which has moisture in it. But this is the air I put energy into heating. Does this mean I am wasting my time heating the air? I guess it depends on how much air I am extracting – i.e. if I extract air quicker than its heated then I will be fighting a losing battle. The ‘cold air inlet’ you talk about is obviously to replace the air which is extracted to avoid creating a vacuum. But living in the north of Scotland, the outside air during the night at winter is hitting -10C. Surly by allowing this air in the cost of heating the air and extracting it is going to be extreme?!

Tizer, do you have a link to some photos/info about the fish room set up?

As I am constructing the whole thing, I can do as I like which is great – not restricted by a partially built room or anything.

All I need to work out is how to sort my water storage/heating/preparation and then I know what I’m doing....other than the above questions haha

With the lights – do the tanks at the bottom of the stack get light too if you are just using room lighting? When you say you have ‘cans’....are these just florescent lights?