Small Room, 2Ft Heated Aquarium, Damp Walls, Condensation

[Lund]

Hi all,

Just a brief idea of the setup I have; I live at home with my parents in a small rectangular sized room, 6metres by 4metres approx. My bed is against the wall at the head and right hand side of the bed. My room suffers from damp walls and a heavily condensated window each time I awake in the morning. My bedding and pillows are also becoming damp because of this. It has become quite a concern to my parents as a health hazard.

I have a tropical aquarium setup, Jewel Rekord 60 with a full cover/hood. My parents belive that the heated tank is the cause of the condensation and damp.

Has anyone else had any experience with damp in their rooms, did you remove the tank from that room and was it the cause of the problem?

What do you suggest I do to combat this problem?

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[aly_starh]

I dont think the tank is the cause of the condensation, try putting a condensation tray on your tank, and see if it stops.

 

[OldMan47]

If the room is quite a bit cooler than the tank, you can indeed get water condensation on surfaces. I have a well insulated home that does not experience much condensation even with all my tanks running but a tank where the water level drops a bit each day is putting moisture into the air. If the walls and windows are much cooler than the air, the moisture will condense on the surfaces.

 

[Tolak]

This is a common fishroom concern, many tanks in a small area. The easiest, and cheapest thing to do is to cover the tank as completely as possible. Diffuser panels, commonly used for suspended ceiling light fixtures, are cheap and easy to work with for covering tanks, or sections of tank tops that are open. Air circulation helps, as well as being able to provide a bit of ventilation.

 

[Lund]

If the room is quite a bit cooler than the tank, you can indeed get water condensation on surfaces. I have a well insulated home that does not experience much condensation even with all my tanks running but a tank where the water level drops a bit each day is putting moisture into the air. If the walls and windows are much cooler than the air, the moisture will condense on the surfaces.

I have a max level indication on the tank internals, the water level has dropped below this level to about approximately 10mm, but thats over a period of a few weeks, its not necessarily a huge loss of water for the amount of time. The cover does catch the condensation however, there are 2 holes, one for the heater and filter leads, and one for the light leads. Am I best trying to block these holes up?

Thanks for your help so far guys,

Tom

 

[OldMan47]

If that is all the moisture that evaporates, look for another water source. 10 mm in a few weeks is not much moisture at all. You will get more moisture in the air than that by just breathing in the room.

 

[Lund]

If that is all the moisture that evaporates, look for another water source. 10 mm in a few weeks is not much moisture at all. You will get more moisture in the air than that by just breathing in the room.

There doesn't seem to be another water source, only other source of water would the radiator and thats all plumbed in without leaks. I think its due to the main wall being an outside wall. My room doesn't get any sunlight and I have the smallest of wall radiators!

 

[BecciMac1987]

I get the same all over my house, and its nothing to do with the tank. Has your room got two external walls, and are they the ones that get damp? If you have the same prob as me, the walls get very cold at this time of year, and your breath overnight/heating makes the air full of water. Then in condenses on cold surfaces, which will be the external walls an windows. I have to run a dehumidifier from Nov-Feb, and wipe mould off a few corners every few weeks. This is coupled with wiping drenched windows every morning.
I think you just have the same prob as me!

 

[Lund]

I get the same all over my house, and its nothing to do with the tank. Has your room got two external walls, and are they the ones that get damp? If you have the same prob as me, the walls get very cold at this time of year, and your breath overnight/heating makes the air full of water. Then in condenses on cold surfaces, which will be the external walls an windows. I have to run a dehumidifier from Nov-Feb, and wipe mould off a few corners every few weeks. This is coupled with wiping drenched windows every morning.
I think you just have the same prob as me!

You literally just stated my routine! My room has 2 external walls, and yes these get damp. Do you notice a considerable difference using the dehumidifier? I'm having to wipe my window every morning and tackle the mold every other day!

 

[BecciMac1987]

Yep massive difference with the dehumid, we have it in the hallway and it sorts the whole house. There is a still a problem with windows, but mould is down to every few weeks as opposed to all over the wall within days! Use a weak bleach solution on the mould to kill anything harmful. The only ways of sorting it is getting cavity wall insulation (we cant do this as our walls have no cavitys!), or the dehumid, which aren't that expensive in homebase or suchlike. I can promise you the tank wont be causing too much extra work. Try and keep your bed away from the external walls: it will alllow the air to circulate too.

 

[ellena]

We had this problem and solved it with a combination of trying to keep the source of water vapour down (ie not drying clothes on the radiator in that room) and leaving the window open for at least a few hours each day.

 

[Just_Another_One]

Every window on the main floor of my house is soaking wet each morning. Nothing to do with fish tanks as they are only in one room. It also only happens in fall and winter... Its a very old house and I guess its not very well insulated. We just wipe them off each morning and it stays dry untill around 6pm until the next morning when we dry them again

I think if your walls and furnature are getting wet as well as the windows you might want to get it checked out. mold and other nasties could be growing in the walls and that definitly is a major health hazard.

 

[Schmill]

If your tank has a good cover on it, then it is MUCH more likely to be moisture from your breath, cooking in the house, clothes drying indoors, people bathing / showering etc. All of these things put water vapour into the air, and as the walls get cold at night water WILL condense on them.

A couple of things you can do to improve the situation.
- Open bathroom windows when bathing / showering. they don't have to be wide open, but an inch or so to let the air circulate and remove the steam, or fit an extractor fan.
- Open kitchen windows when cooking, as per the bathroom, or fit an extractor fan.
- Open the window of any room that is 'drying clothes'.
- Get a dehumidifier, (but I generally only run this once the windows are closed, no point in trying to dehumidify the outside air!)
- Rather than closing windows tightly, leave them slightly open to allow air exchange.

If you have solid outside walls, warm damp air inside the house, and cold weather outside, you will get the problem, but the above methods can help to minimise it

 

[The Other Lebowski]

oh boy. what you're describing is an obvious insulation problem of the house, in a fairly extreme form. water is produced in large quantities in any household, breathing itself produces LITERS of water in the air. this moisture is supposed to be able to exit the house, either through an open window when airing the room out, or through the walls, gaps n the windows and so forth. if it doesn't, you get high humidity. if the walls - besides not allowing the moisture to get out - are also weakly - or more often incorrectly - insulated, you get condensation whenever the outside temperature drops. that means the moisture turns to water upon contact with the cold surface.

so to sum it up, the fish tank is not the problem. the house is, the aquarium merely aggravates the problem as an extra source of moisture in the air. move man, damp pillows and bed mean you're livng surrounded by toxic mold already.