anyone have opinions on de humidifiers?

[khaosinc]

So the old POS I have is just not cutting it with my tank. 35 gallons a week of evaporation in the winter when I actually bother to close my windows has it raining in my house almost as much as it is outside.

Anyone have opinions/advice on buying a new de humidifier. Exaust fans do not seem to be cutting it.

[Flipper62]

How big of a tank do you have ?

[downhillbiker]

I am tagging along. I have been seriously considering a dehumidifier. I have a 300g system and my apartment cant breath enough. I get serious condensation everywhere, especially on the windows.

[khaosinc]

750 gallon tank, 300 gallon sump. Not to mention the turtle tank, and 2 freshwater set ups.

About 2000 gallons of water in a 1200 square ft house.

I keep seeing the adds for the "drinking water out of air" things, which I assume are over glorified de humidifiers. Anyone have one?

[DarthAWM]

750 gallon tank, 300 gallon sump. Not to mention the turtle tank, and 2 freshwater set ups.

About 2000 gallons of water in a 1200 square ft house.

I keep seeing the adds for the "drinking water out of air" things, which I assume are over glorified de humidifiers. Anyone have one?

:idea: That actually sounds pretty good, run the product to your RO/DI and with the added local humidity you might even break out a head of eveporation.

[khaosinc]

I'd have to run it in to a tank and pump it in to my ro/di unit, but that wouldn't be a huge hastle.

Anyone know anything about those units... I.E costs etc.

[shirley386]

I have a Frigidaire "50 pint" dehumidifier. The bucket holds about 3 gallons before it cuts off. I empty it twice a day and it's usually full when I do. It's in the room with 2 180s, a 120, and a 45. I top off about 5 - 6 gallons a day. I got it from Lowe's or Home Depot (can't remember which one). It cost about $200. I'm satisfied with it.

If you could position it where you have a gravity drain you can connect a garden hose to it and forget about having to empty the bucket.

[bigdaddytanner]

It really depends on what you wanna spend. My company installs two to three a week at customer's homes. We deal with moisture and fungus issues on a large scale. Although most of the work we do is in crawlspaces and basements, you could easily install one into a fish room. You can then run the condensation line through the floor and directly into a drain line. There's no water buckets to empty and the units have built in filters that actually clean the air as well. The name brand of the units are Santa Fe. All you would need is a Santa Fe Compact dehumidifier. You should be able to get one shipped to you for around $1200. You can visit my website for more information if you would like. www.tennesseetechnicians.com

[wdt2000]

I picked up an LG at Home Depot (60 pint) that works very well for about 500 gallons in my basement. It can maintain 50% humidity running a few hours a day. But with 2000 gallons in such a small area I would get a whole house dehumidifier.

[dcp17420]

I got a Frigidaire 70-Pint Dehumidifier last year for christmas at Lowes for about $225. It was works well. I had to buy it. My house was around 65 %humidity. I run it more in the winter. 8 to 12 hrs aday. It takes out about 70 pints in 8hrs of running on the low setting. I try to keep my house about 40 to 45 %humidity. The dehumidifier has alot of good features. I have a 90 gal and 65 gal. tanks. Hope this helps.

[jenglish]

I would think the dehumidifier water would be pure enough to use as topoff for a FW tank, probably cleaner than tap. Hypothetically is should be pretty much distilled water but IDK what sort of metals it would come into contact with. YOu could also simply plumb it to a drain if you did not mind wasting the water, then you would never have to dump.

[arredondojason]

i just got this one about 2 months ago as my 350G total system was causing mold to start to grow. My house is about 2200 sqft this thing keep the humidity very low around 30%. when it was well over 85% before i had it. It drop the % about 10% a day.This thing is a beast as far as Dehumidifiers go. Here is a link.

http://www.amazon.com/Soleus-Air-DP1-70-03-Portable-Dehumidifier/dp/B001D1FF32/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1258232670&sr=8-6

Also I would not suggest running the water from any unit to your tank as most dehumidifiers use copper coils to cause condensation. So you would possibly be putting copper into your tank.

[shirley386]

I asked about recycling the water back into the sump for topoff and was cautioned about the possibility of some things that would not be good for the reefs. I simply dump the bucket into the clothes washer and reuse it that way.