new tank???

[martym]

Well I finally found room and got premission for a new tank. Going with Peacock cichlids from Malawi. I have a 6' wall where to place it. The room is an un windowed room in the unfinished basement. I have concerns about moisture with such a big tank(108 or bigger). Has anyone ever drill through the wall of their house to add ventilation? Any suggestions on a tank.
It's good to be back
Thanks all

[StirCrazy]

is it a concreat wall or is there some wood you could drill through?

best bet would be to drill a 4 or 6" hole and then get a good fan which will be hooked up to a humidistat. but seeing as you are doing a rock enviorment use just NO lighting and put a glass top on the tank to reduce evaporation. if you have a problem after that then you can look at ventalation or a dehumidifyer.

Steve

[martym]

I can drill through wood above the concrete. I hope by doing what said, I will be able to keep the moisture down. Wife doesn't likethe "smell" of the moisture.
How many of you out there keep peacock cichlids?

[Cap'n]

I keep cichlids but they are all Tanganyikan.

Sounds like a nice setup. Keep us posted.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Maybe a small dehumidifier might be easier & less intrusive?

Just a thought before punching holes into your wall

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Maybe a small dehumidifier might be easier & less intrusive?

Just a thought before punching holes into your wall

A good thought, I wouldn't be without mine; but ... to be fair, they are quite noisy and expensive to run. A hole may seem intrusive but if you do it right wouldn't be any worse than, say, a dryer vent, stove hood fan vent, or bathroom fan vent; when you're done with it you could patch it up (and if you have siding you can just get a new piece of siding and you'd never know there was a patch job underneath), and other than a fan to push air through it, the hole itself doesn't have any incremental costs of operation.

But with THAT said, if it was me, I'd be real nervous I'd screw something up. "Oh darn, I think the tank would look so much better over there instead."

I'm currently planning a tank room that will be serviced by a bathroom fan or two. Currently my tanks are pumping so much humidity into my house my poor dehumidifier is cranked nearly 24x7 just to keep the relative humidity at around 50%. Even so on a cold night I wake to find windows over my whole house so incredibly soaked that it looks as if they've been sprayed with a garden hose. So I'm afraid the dehumidifier is not up to the task anymore. I tried closing my vents and the air return for the furnace, in the basement, as a means to temporarily keep the humidity from escaping into the rest of the house; but this had unintended nasty consequences so I had to reopen them all (the basement became one little allergenic zone from the dust accumulation ... lesson learnt I guess that furnace filter really does have a useful function). Life with tanks can become a constant battle against the raging humidity (not usually a problem for Calgary ... you wouldn't beleive the looks I get from people when I tell them I have to run a dehumidifier .... )

Anyhow just some random thoughts, HTH..

[MitchM]

FWIW, to hire a concrete cutting and coring company to come and cut a 6 - 8" hole in your foundation is around $200.
The machine is simple enough, but I don't know if you could rent one.

Mitch

[martym]

Thanks everyone. I shouldn't have to cut through the concrete, just the wall. I think it is a good idea, but it's not the first "good idea" that I've had that cost a lot more than expected
I'll let you know what I do and how it works out.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Remember - measure twice, cut once. Or was it cut once, then measure twice. Or was it..... Oh never mind, just have the beer(s) after you finish and not as a pre-cutting warm-up

If you screw up, you can always buy another house to try it again, right?

[martym]

The beer is the most important factor. The bigger the project the more you need before you start, the more you have the better job you do. Until the next day that is