Do I need venting to outside for this new Tank build?
 

I am thinking of setting up a 150 g or so tank (72 L x 20 H x 24 W) in my basement. The sump is going to be in the furnace room right beside the tank, and the main tank will be in a large open air rec/bar room, there is a decent sized window to the right of where the tank will be. My question is will I need to punch out a hole and install a fan in either the furnace room or the other room? I ran a 120ish gallon in my last place main floor and had no venting issues, It was a very open concept, this house has spiral stairs to the basement so that part is open to the main and upper floor, and a room away from where the tank will be.
So what do you guys think?

humidity control
 

I recommend that you do, I hooked up my fan to a honeywell dehumidification switch. This automatically turned the fan on when it reached a preset value. I have central air in the house so humidity is not an issue in the summer/early fall, but it can be a problem in the winter months. I would seriously consider this option, as it is easier to do it now, planned ahead, than later on down the road. Just my opinion, HTH,
Bob

I second the idea as well. I wouldn't have done it any other way. This way you have control over it rather than you not being able do to anything about it later. Besides, you're in the the basement so it's really easy to get a hole out there.

Dez did you buy a regular bathroom fan or one of those fancy inline ones like the fantech units? How many cfm for that room you have? I'll be putting that in place sometime this year myself...

So venting out of the furnace room with the sump and equipment is good enough? Or do I need to be venting out of the rec room where the tank is as well? The downside to this basement is it is fully developed and runs crown moldings and drywalled ceiling so I have to be careful on what I get cut. I do like the idea of running the fan to a dehumifier system, who do I get to set that up normally? The builder put the humidifer control and sensor in the furnace room, so I hope that does not cause problems for the hardwood, as the whole main is hardwood. What do you guys think?

Hey Brett,

It was just a regular bathroom fan that is hooked to a dehumidistat. I didn't really look at the cfm cause that room is so tiny (5 x 8 I think). You've been in there, 2 people barely fit in there. Completely worth it!

My canopy is completely closed and I have a vent running air into my sump room. So no humidity gets into the room where my tank is, rather it is directed into the sump room where that room had a dehumidistat hooked up to the fan. I hope I'm making sense.

yes Dez it makes sense, thanks for the info.

Brett, the fan I put in was 50 cfm, and was plenty big enough. Just do yourself a favour and get a higher quality fan, generally a fan with a horizontal shaft is quieter. The fan and dehumidistat was just under $100 bucks at the wholesale, well worth the money.

You guys all run this air outside with a dedicated duct correct? I don't think tying into the home's ventilation is good considering the constant humidity and possible corrosion issues. Do you also have a dedicated fresh air feed?

Be careful venting your furnace room. You can create a back draft on your furnace and hot water tank exhaust. I think your ok if its newer but best to ask.

good to know, the house is newly built and runs 2 80 g hotwater tanks each seperately vented out. I'll mkae sure to check out that question.

fish tank humidifier
 

It funny everyone in calgary is looking to dehumidify. Prior to the installation of my fish tank I could barely get the humidity in my house above 20%. It was destroying the hardwood, all the wood cabinets were drying out. I actually installed a new humidifier to get the humidity in the house up.

once I installed my 180 the humidity in the house went up to 35% and is fairly steady at that. My top-off bucket needs to be filled ever second day, so I am putting 2.5G of water in the air and my house is much better for it.

Calgary is so dry in the winter I am shocked to hear people say humidity is an issue. In vancouver, mtl and Toronto I fully understand the humidity issue but its interesting to hear people having the issue in calgary. That being said I do have an air exchange unit on the house so it may be solving any humidity issues without having a humidity fan.

If you have a air exchanger it makes a huge difference because the humid air in the house is constantly being replaced with fresh air. An HRV is in my opinion the best option if you had the funds. I didn't have the funds so that's why I installed just a bathroom fan. It's not my furnace room so I think I'm pretty safe. I also have a vent fan in the house that I can manually turn on if I want. With my experience with my old house, I opted to go preventative rather than deal with it after the fact. I was dealing with mold issues at my old place. This was mainly in the winter where the windows would just drip and it would drip down the walls and cause the baseboards to mold. Long story short, if you have the funds, get an HRV. You can get one for well under a thousand dollars and really easy to install with minimal tools. Hope this helps.