Dehumidifier in the fish room??? Does it help???
- Thread starter doubledragon
- Start date
Has anyone used a dehumidifier hooked up to a reservoir to save the water for water changes? Or is it too pure when drawn from the air?
Doubledragon, you definitely want to cover that big water change reservoir in your fish room to help keep the evaporation down AND to reduce the amount of time you run the dehumidifier.
There are various models that allow you to control the run time of the dehumidifier. I bought one from Sears a few years ago for a damp basement (no fish tanks) that allows three different cycles. Always ON; 3 Hrs ON/3 Hrs OFF; 12Hrs ON/12 Hrs OFF. I ran a hose from the collection bucket to the floor sump so as not to have to dump the bucket water. It works great but I don't have any idea of the cost to run it since I don't pay for the bill.
There are various models that allow you to control the run time of the dehumidifier. I bought one from Sears a few years ago for a damp basement (no fish tanks) that allows three different cycles. Always ON; 3 Hrs ON/3 Hrs OFF; 12Hrs ON/12 Hrs OFF. I ran a hose from the collection bucket to the floor sump so as not to have to dump the bucket water. It works great but I don't have any idea of the cost to run it since I don't pay for the bill.
deeda;3924287; said:
Thanks deeda, I moved things around a bit and expanded some tank's since the last time you were over. I guess I'm gonna have to cover the uncovered tanks and the pond's. Kinda suck's. I like the 3hrs on 3hrs off, option.
How are things going with you?
Did you get the tank's going yet?
We got six of those 30G tanks setup on a metal rack trimmed with pine and they finally all have fish in them.
The 125G was completely resealed/tested and the stand build came out nicely. It's sitting in the basement, not filled with water yet as we started doing a rock background and the weather turned too cold for the cement to setup properly.
I see you've had some tanks & fish for sale so I gathered you were redoing the fish room. I've been keeping my eye out for big tanks for you but haven't seen any.
We'll have to get together soon to see the changes. I'd still like to get rid of some yellow Labs. It's just a pain to pull all the rocks out of the tank to get to them.
Dee
The 125G was completely resealed/tested and the stand build came out nicely. It's sitting in the basement, not filled with water yet as we started doing a rock background and the weather turned too cold for the cement to setup properly.
I see you've had some tanks & fish for sale so I gathered you were redoing the fish room. I've been keeping my eye out for big tanks for you but haven't seen any.
We'll have to get together soon to see the changes. I'd still like to get rid of some yellow Labs. It's just a pain to pull all the rocks out of the tank to get to them.
Dee
deeda;3924399; said:
Woo-Hoo, I'm so glad to see that those tank's finally have fish in them.
I stored these for so long, with no intentions of setting them up. I'm so glad they went to a good home. The 30 breeders were the best tank's of all. I just went a differen't route with bigger tank's.
Stop by anytime. You know where I'm at.
Trust me, I know how hard it is to get small fish out of big tank's.
I also put it off as long as possible.
The water collected be a dehumidifier is not potable--there's no way I'd dump it back into the fish tank.
I researched this subject quite a bit for another member a while back. There are some minor and major drawbacks to using reclaimed water from a dehumidifier. If the unit is new, the water is relatively safe. But, even new units have to be checked for suitability of using the condensed water due to anti-oxidant coatings from particular manufacturing plants. IMO, it's just safer to use the water on outdoor plants then to use it in aquaria.
Dehumidifiers:
-with copper coils can have high enough levels of copper in the condensate to kill off all inverts and harm the livers of many fish and herps.
-Any oils/chemicals in the air will also be concentrated in the condensate tank.
-Unless cleaned every couple of days, the mold commonly found in the cases and condensate tanks of dehumidifiers will be more concentrated than the aquarium is normally exposed to from the ambient air.
A note on dehumidfier copper coils versus home plumbing copper pipes:
We've had members experience problems upon moving into new construction homes. Same water, same plumbing, and same municipal reservoir. However, their fish/inverts suffered inexplicably. I asked a civil engineer for the county water district for his insight and he suggested that aged copper pipes usually have mineral/salt deposits on them. This "skin" prevents copper from being leeched into the water within the piping. The new-home pipes haven't had time to build up this coating and, therefore, the aquariums suffered.
In dehumidifiers, there's no chance of building this coating. So, copper-sensitive species will always be at risk of suffering toxic effects from the reclaimed water in copper-coiled units.
Dehumidifiers:
-with copper coils can have high enough levels of copper in the condensate to kill off all inverts and harm the livers of many fish and herps.
-Any oils/chemicals in the air will also be concentrated in the condensate tank.
-Unless cleaned every couple of days, the mold commonly found in the cases and condensate tanks of dehumidifiers will be more concentrated than the aquarium is normally exposed to from the ambient air.
A note on dehumidfier copper coils versus home plumbing copper pipes:
We've had members experience problems upon moving into new construction homes. Same water, same plumbing, and same municipal reservoir. However, their fish/inverts suffered inexplicably. I asked a civil engineer for the county water district for his insight and he suggested that aged copper pipes usually have mineral/salt deposits on them. This "skin" prevents copper from being leeched into the water within the piping. The new-home pipes haven't had time to build up this coating and, therefore, the aquariums suffered.
In dehumidifiers, there's no chance of building this coating. So, copper-sensitive species will always be at risk of suffering toxic effects from the reclaimed water in copper-coiled units.
Oddball;3925977; said:
I always like it when you chime in on any thread.
Always so informative, and helpfull.
