Hello fellow reefers i have a serious question

[kien]

Yes. And I solved this problem by installing an HRV in my house. No more condensation, no more humidity, no more mold.

If you do a google or forum search for "HRV" you'll see that they are quite popular.

[Proteus]

You may find that a dehumidifier will pull water out tank. Good circulation is key

[mikeclarke]

I have a Costco.ca dehumidifier in my sump/furnace room that pumps the water out to a drain. It doesn't smell. I have an ATO on the salt mixing tank and for the make up water tank (a 5 gallon pail). So far it's been good but I've only had the 100+50 tank going since August. Before that I had a 20gal tank that had a covered canopy so I never had issues. My 100dt has no cover but I've noticed that I am getting more condensation on the windows as it has got colder outside.

[Delphinus]

The severity of the problem will depend on your total water volume, what kind of lighting you'll use (because it influences evaporation) but yes, this is a common problem and in Alberta the best solution is a HRV. Other options that will work but not as efficiently are installing a bathroom fan or other venting, or a dehumidifier. I found a dehumidifier to be noisy, inconvenient, costly to run and the dehumidification effect to be localized to whereever the unit was sitting whereas the rest of the house still suffered from excessive humidity.

A HRV ("heat recovery ventilator") trumps a bathroom fan in that it IS a bathroom fan basically but replaces the air being taken out of the house with fresh air from the outside, and uses heat exchangers to preheat the recovered air to something like 95% efficiency (rather important if it is -20 outside).

The whole house benefits too. Even if I quit my tanks I'll always have an HRV in my house, they are very useful overall.