As the weather turns colder in the great white north condensation becomes more of a problem. At some point in the hopefully not too distant future I will install an HRV (Heat recovery Ventilator) in order to get three or four air changes a day in my house. Nowadays, modern homes in Canada are pretty air tight so we live in what amounts to a large plastic bag.
De-humidification is a bandaid solution; best to change the air and recover the heat you have put into at the same time, This helps to remove volatile organiuc compounds (VOC's) that result from construction adhesives, cleaning products, cooking, dog farts, etc.
Since that is'nt in the budget in the immediate future, I decided to go for the next best thing; ocaisionaly opening the doors and windows to change the air once a day and actively controlling the major source of humidity; my fry grow out set up.
I use 100 gallon poly stock tanks to raise fry and juvenile mbuna. These tanks are easy to heat and clean but are more of a challenge when it comes to sealing them up. They are not square, but rounded at both ends. I run the water temperature about 4 degrees warmer than my house air temp so you can understand how with 36 square feet of warm turbulent water exposed to the air, evaporation and humididty can become a problem.
The solution presented itself when I found a material that is made of translucent plastic with a corrugated interior. You see it used for temporary outdoor signs and advertising. It provides a rigid cover that wont break, even under the weight of my crazy cat Wanker. You can buy it in 4' x 8' sheets and shape it with a box cutter to whatever plan you like. It neatly allows the water vapour to condense and drip back into the tank, in the same manner that a glass top will.
The problem I had with one tank however was because of the way my XP3 filter pipework is designed by the manufacturer. It has to go in over the top of the tank, and therefore prevents a good seal against humid air escaping the tank.
So it became obvious that a new plumbing solution was required. Off to the Home Despot I went, and gathered a bag of plumbing parts. My intention is to use the drain tap at the bottom of the tank as the return from the filter and install a new tank tap on the side of the tank for the intake hose. I already use the drain for cleaning and have it double valved so adding a new manifold that would allow a bypass for either draining or filtering was a piece of cake...
First the bag of parts;
I'm no plumber by anyones definition so I'm sure that a more experienced fitter could have done this with fewer pieces but I wanted to make sure that I could still drain my tank with a garden hose when doing 25% water changes twice a week. That accounts for the ball valve and the hose bib. I need to isolate the filter while draining the tank.
The foot valve prevents the filter from losing its prime should I need to drain the tank below the level of the intake, and also provides a decent strainer that will keep little ones out of the filter. The expensive component was the tank tap itself. It has a 3/4" pipe entrance. In hind site I think it worthwhile investing in an 1 1/4" tap, since it can be easily reduced with a bushing, but would allow a much greater flow rate.
The next step was to dry fit them together and then reassemble them with teflon tape. By being methodical, I avoid cutting holes in fish tanks without having all the parts to put it back together the way I want it. This prevents racing through traffic to the hardware store looking for a part with a a half empty tank full of stressed fish at home. While assembling the parts I also lowered the level in the tank...
The next strep was breaking the existing drain arrangement and adding the new return manifold. I then opened the valve to the tank and conducted a pressure test to ensure all the joints had a good seal. Better to find out you have a leak at this stage when its easier to fix...
View attachment 147333
After waiting twenty minutes and not finding any drips, I moved the hose from the return pipe that Rena supplied with the XP3 filter and attached it to the hose barb on the new manifold, then opened the valve to test this part of the installation. No problems.
Now the scary part...With an 1 5/8" hole saw I drilled the hole for the new tap in the side wall of the stock tank. I was over the commit line big time.
The tap has a thick rubber washer that compresses on the inside of the tank wall giving an excellant seal. I then trimmed the hoses a little and set up the filter with the new tap. My tank lid sits neatly on top and provides the desired seal.
Since there would be otherwise no air getting into the tank for gas exchange, I set up a sponge filter to increase surface turbulence and provide enough fresh air makeup for the fish. This means that some humid air will escape into the house but hey...the fish gotta breathe. The other picture shows the foot valve installed inside the tank.
I'm thinking that the next logical step would be to hook up my other two tanks the same way or possibly build two manifolds; one for collecting water to be filtered and another for return to the tanks. I would then pipe the filters to draw from the supply manifold and then force filtered water back into the return manifold. This would allow me to increase the size of the piping to 1 1/4", reducing friction loss by quite a bit and increasing the flow rate. I could also use any number of filters on any number of tanks, with the added ability of being able to take one off line for maintenance without affecting the others.
There may be a problem balancing the flow rates however, which could result in a tank overflowing. Anyone have any ideas on how to solve that problem?
De-humidification is a bandaid solution; best to change the air and recover the heat you have put into at the same time, This helps to remove volatile organiuc compounds (VOC's) that result from construction adhesives, cleaning products, cooking, dog farts, etc.
Since that is'nt in the budget in the immediate future, I decided to go for the next best thing; ocaisionaly opening the doors and windows to change the air once a day and actively controlling the major source of humidity; my fry grow out set up.
I use 100 gallon poly stock tanks to raise fry and juvenile mbuna. These tanks are easy to heat and clean but are more of a challenge when it comes to sealing them up. They are not square, but rounded at both ends. I run the water temperature about 4 degrees warmer than my house air temp so you can understand how with 36 square feet of warm turbulent water exposed to the air, evaporation and humididty can become a problem.
The solution presented itself when I found a material that is made of translucent plastic with a corrugated interior. You see it used for temporary outdoor signs and advertising. It provides a rigid cover that wont break, even under the weight of my crazy cat Wanker. You can buy it in 4' x 8' sheets and shape it with a box cutter to whatever plan you like. It neatly allows the water vapour to condense and drip back into the tank, in the same manner that a glass top will.
The problem I had with one tank however was because of the way my XP3 filter pipework is designed by the manufacturer. It has to go in over the top of the tank, and therefore prevents a good seal against humid air escaping the tank.
So it became obvious that a new plumbing solution was required. Off to the Home Despot I went, and gathered a bag of plumbing parts. My intention is to use the drain tap at the bottom of the tank as the return from the filter and install a new tank tap on the side of the tank for the intake hose. I already use the drain for cleaning and have it double valved so adding a new manifold that would allow a bypass for either draining or filtering was a piece of cake...
First the bag of parts;
I'm no plumber by anyones definition so I'm sure that a more experienced fitter could have done this with fewer pieces but I wanted to make sure that I could still drain my tank with a garden hose when doing 25% water changes twice a week. That accounts for the ball valve and the hose bib. I need to isolate the filter while draining the tank.
The foot valve prevents the filter from losing its prime should I need to drain the tank below the level of the intake, and also provides a decent strainer that will keep little ones out of the filter. The expensive component was the tank tap itself. It has a 3/4" pipe entrance. In hind site I think it worthwhile investing in an 1 1/4" tap, since it can be easily reduced with a bushing, but would allow a much greater flow rate.
The next step was to dry fit them together and then reassemble them with teflon tape. By being methodical, I avoid cutting holes in fish tanks without having all the parts to put it back together the way I want it. This prevents racing through traffic to the hardware store looking for a part with a a half empty tank full of stressed fish at home. While assembling the parts I also lowered the level in the tank...
The next strep was breaking the existing drain arrangement and adding the new return manifold. I then opened the valve to the tank and conducted a pressure test to ensure all the joints had a good seal. Better to find out you have a leak at this stage when its easier to fix...
View attachment 147333
After waiting twenty minutes and not finding any drips, I moved the hose from the return pipe that Rena supplied with the XP3 filter and attached it to the hose barb on the new manifold, then opened the valve to test this part of the installation. No problems.
Now the scary part...With an 1 5/8" hole saw I drilled the hole for the new tap in the side wall of the stock tank. I was over the commit line big time.
The tap has a thick rubber washer that compresses on the inside of the tank wall giving an excellant seal. I then trimmed the hoses a little and set up the filter with the new tap. My tank lid sits neatly on top and provides the desired seal.
Since there would be otherwise no air getting into the tank for gas exchange, I set up a sponge filter to increase surface turbulence and provide enough fresh air makeup for the fish. This means that some humid air will escape into the house but hey...the fish gotta breathe. The other picture shows the foot valve installed inside the tank.
I'm thinking that the next logical step would be to hook up my other two tanks the same way or possibly build two manifolds; one for collecting water to be filtered and another for return to the tanks. I would then pipe the filters to draw from the supply manifold and then force filtered water back into the return manifold. This would allow me to increase the size of the piping to 1 1/4", reducing friction loss by quite a bit and increasing the flow rate. I could also use any number of filters on any number of tanks, with the added ability of being able to take one off line for maintenance without affecting the others.
There may be a problem balancing the flow rates however, which could result in a tank overflowing. Anyone have any ideas on how to solve that problem?
