Marine Aquarium Evaporation & The Hidden Dangers to Your Health and Home

Welcome to Simple Reefs. We are a brand new website designed to take the stress and expense out of starting your very own marine aquarium. We have been looking at the topic of evaporation in a marine aquarium this week. Did you know, however, that it isn’t just the residents in your aquarium that are at risk from evaporation? Today we are looking at Marine Aquarium Evaporation & The Hidden Dangers to Your Health and Home.

Evaporation Is More Of A Problem Than You Might Think

It’s natural to prioritise the wellbeing of the creatures in your aquarium when talking about evaporation. After all, you want to make sure that they are healthy and comfortable. There is another issue caused by evaporation in your marine aquarium that many people don’t seem to talk about. Evaporation may lead to an increase in the humidity levels in your home.

If you have a large aquarium and you only use a mesh cover, you can expect to experience multi-litre per-day levels of evaporation. Pretty crazy but it is absolutely true and the warmer your home is the higher this number will become. That water has to go somewhere, right, but where does it go? Well, it ends up saturated into the air all around you.

Just like when you boil a pan of rice and all of that water vanishes, your aquarium’s water is doing the same. It is leaving the surface of your tank and it is entering the air. The big difference is, when you cook in your kitchen you are going to use an extractor fan of some regard to remove that damp air. We don’t have extractor fans in the rooms with our aquariums, though, so where does it go? This is where humidity comes into play.

What is Humidity?

Humidity is, in simple terms, the amount of water contained within the air when water is in a gaseous state. Humidity is, essentially, invisible to the naked eye but you can see it as you breathe out on a cold day. Air almost always contains some amount of water vapour.

Warm air can hold more water vapour than cold air due to the molecules in the warm water having more kinetic energy. This allows them to remain in a gaseous state much easier than if they were cold. Cold water in a gaseous state will turn back into water far quicker in the form of condensation.

This water vapour can come from many sources like oceans and lakes. In our homes, however, it is typically the result of things like cooking, bathing, and washing dishes. It even comes from humans and our pets as we breathe.

An Example of High Humidity In The Home

A good example of humidity in your home can be found in your bathroom on a cold day. Let’s say your bathroom is fairly small and is currently around 13°C. I live in a cold house so this is normal for me. For anyone who grew up in the 90s in houses without radiators you probably know what I am talking about.

You hit the shower and, because you are a masochistic man or a normal woman, you crank up the temperature of your shower nice and hot. You know the kind of hot I mean? Like getting into the shower after a female family member and forgetting that women have an unnatural tolerance for hot water and scalding yourself.

After you are done, the bathroom is hazy and drying off takes ages because the air is so saturated with water that it immediately condensates on your skin. This is because the air in your bathroom will be at 100% humidity and literally can’t hold any more water.

If you warmed your bathroom up before you showered, the air would be capable of holding more water so would be far less hazy. When water from your aquarium is heated, it is doing the same thing. It is evaporating into the air in your house. You may not be able to see it but it is there and this leads to higher levels of humidity.

We deal with this problem in a bathroom using an extractor fan which will pull this humid air out of the room, in turn, allowing it to be replaced by fresh air. It’s pretty simple, right? And the concept works exactly the same way in the rest of our homes but this is where problems can occur.

Hidden Dangers of High Humidity – A Mould Crisis

Modern houses are designed to trap warm air to prevent heat loss. After all, we don’t want the energy we are spending money on to heat our homes leaving out of the cracks in the window. The air in your home can’t actually go anywhere unless you actively ventilate. But who the hell wants to open a window in the height of winter?

Have you noticed that we, in the UK, are living in a sort of mouldy homes crisis? It is constantly in the news during winter. Many houses are becoming breeding grounds for dangerous kinds of mould that can majorly damage your health, even leading to death. The reason for this is, partly, down to the way we have changed our homes.

British homes were designed to be draughty. Gaps around skirting boards, permeable materials used on walls, gaps around windows. It wasn’t very pleasant but the designs served a purpose and that was to keep fresh air flowing around the house and to remove damp air.

Sure, the homes would cool quickly once warmed but the air wasn’t damp so homes felt more liveable. People also invested more in personal heating like blankets, layers, and hot water bottles because it was more affordable.

The homes were so draughty that mould wasn’t as much of an issue unless there was a serious leak. I grew up in an icy house that was as draughty as all hell but never experienced any mould at all. In fact, I don’t remember seeing mould in any of my friends houses, either.

Modern Houses Trap Damp Air

As times moved on, a greater emphasis was placed on keeping warm air in the home. After all, what good is it outside when we are inside? People took action to make their homes as airtight as possible.

A whole industry evolved designed purely for removing draughts from your home. Hell, you can even rent a draught detector from electricity companies here to see where you are losing heat so that you can “fix” it.

People filled the gaps around skirting boards with expanding foam; they added insulation to their walls; they slapped thick layers of material in the attic; they replaced single glazed windows with double glazing; they started using draught excluders; they added a brush to their letter boxes; they painted over permeable walls with plastic based paints.

Modern build houses go even further. Houses are now designed to be as draught proof as possible to keep heat in and cold air out. The all important EPC rating measures a home’s efficiency and can add thousands of pounds in value. Our homes aren’t draughty anymore but that leaves us with a problem. Especially where our marine aquariums and all that evaporation is concerned.

Where Does All That Damp Air Go?

That damp air is now trapped in our house. Now, if we are cooking in our kitchen or having a shower, we probably have an extractor fan to remove the damp air. As long as we leave the fan on long enough, the damp air will be removed and replaced by fresh, drier, air.

We don’t, typically, have this luxury in the average British living room. In many parts of America, homes are equipped with air conditioning units. The units actively suck the damp air out of vents and replace it with cooler, drier air so damp isn’t a big problem. We have never had the need for air conditioning in the UK so we typically use more manual methods to lower humidity.

This involves opening the windows but who wants to do that in the winter when it is cold? Doesn’t that go squarely against the advice issued by energy companies? Many new builds have “trickle vents” on the windows that are designed to introduce fresh air into the home and allow stale, humid air to escape but so many people close them up.

Again, we have been so brainwashed into thinking all draughts are bad that we do everything in our power to make our homes completely air tight. This can lead to a huge problem. A few days of water accumulation from your marine aquarium might not be a big deal.

As time goes on, however, and the home isn’t ventilated, humidity will keep on increasing. This will create the perfect conditions for the growth of mould. Mould loves damp, poorly ventilated homes, and the evaporation from marine aquariums can cause these conditions to thrive.

A Problem That Gets Worse Over Time

You might not notice a big problem in summer because you are probably opening your windows a lot. After all, homes in the UK suffer from that oh so common problem of being too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer. Opening the windows will allow the damp air to escape.

In winter, however, you will be ventilating less. If it is a very cold month, you might not even open the windows a single time for a number of weeks. You will even go to extended efforts to keep inner doors shut and restrict airflow around the home. As you run the heating in the day but allow the home to cool at night, you will begin noticing problems.

All that damp air caused by your aquarium’s evaporation will begin to condensate on the colder parts of your home. Most of the time, this will be windows. Much of the time, however, this will also be on cold spots that link the indoor parts of your home directly to the outside. Wooden beams, for example, and plaster board placed against bricks that lead directly outside. These are known as Cold Bridges or Thermal Bridges and are a big problem in older homes.

This will result in damp patches all over your ceilings and walls. Removing the condensation from the window is one thing. Removing the condensation from these parts of your home, however, is much more difficult. In fact, you will probably need to run a dehumidifier for multiple hours a day or simply wait until winter is over. This can lead to further problems.

Evaporation Causes Damage to Your Health and Home

As these patches become more and more damp, you may notice some far bigger problems. The paint on your walls and ceiling will start to bubble and flake. Wallpaper will begin to lift. Wooden parts of your home may begin to rot away, plasterboard may be damaged, water may saturate the brick, and, worst of all, you may notice the growth of black mould.

Your home may be damaged which could be very expensive to fix. Renters may even find themselves on the wrong side of a landlord or agent that will look to blame them for the problem. Especially if they claim it is caused by having a marine aquarium and not ventilating the property enough. On top of that, the mould may cause serious health complications.

Even healthy adults may experience allergic reactions to mould which can cause sneezing and coughing. The mould will quickly spread. If you don’t deal with the issue. Your clothes and linens will also become wet and mould will grow on those, too, ruining them in the process. Old and vulnerable people can actually lose their lives as a result of excess mould.

It might sound dramatic but the evaporation from your marine aquarium can lead to big problems with your health and damage to your home. If you want to own a marine aquarium then you need to be prepared to take some preventative action to stay on top of the issue.

Prevent Marine Aquarium Evaporation Damaging Your Home and Health

It is absolutely essential to ventilate frequently if you own a marine aquarium. This goes doubly so if it is a large aquarium with no cover. It is one thing to top up your marine aquarium’s evaporation but it is just as important to make sure that evaporation doesn’t stick around and cause a big problem with damp.

Firstly, check out this article to see whether it can help you prevent some of that evaporation. There aren’t too many ways to try and stop it happening but some can be effective. If that doesn’t help, let’s try and fix the problem.

Ventilate With Windows and Doors: Open multiple windows a few times a day to create a nice flow of air. Get your inner doors open to really get some nice movement going and create a large exchange of air. Do this even in winter. I know, it sucks but it is absolutely essential to avoiding your marine aquarium’s evaporation becoming an issue.

Embrace The Draughts: If you live in an old house, don’t be afraid of those draughts. Leave the gaps around your skirting boards clear, remove the draught excluders, embrace the original design of your home. If you can’t unblock draughts, consider leaving windows open a crack if it safe to do so.

DMEV Extractor Fans: I was noticing damp in the old house I live in which had no trickle vents and is a bungalow so not really safe for leaving windows open. I dealt with the problem by installing DMEV extractor fans in each of my bathrooms. These are extractor fans that run continuously and, when used in conjunction with a slightly open window in a dry room or the draughts in your home, keep a continuous flow of fresh air throughout the home. I don’t experience condensation in any of my rooms, any more. Even my conservatory. There are other methods for achieving this but DMEV fans are the cheapest, easiest, and the safest.

Open Your Window’s Trickle Vents: If you are in a new build home, keep your trickle vents open to ensure a good flow of air around the home. These are the little sliding vents on your windows that let a tiny bit of air in. If you are renting, some tenancy agreements insist on this.

Dehumidifiers Can Work Well: Consider a dehumidifier and place it in the room with your aquarium. Set the dehumidifier to come on at a certain level of humidity and let it do its thing. They are expensive to run but far less expensive than fixing the damage of mould and damp. I have a few but haven’t needed them since installing DMEV extractor fans. My absolute favourite was my Meaco DD8L which is a desiccant dehumidifier so is more efficient and works in lower temperatures. It is an absolute beast. A large Dehumidifier may even be sufficient for an entire house.

Fixing The Mould: If mould has already set in, you are going to need to clean it with some specialist cleaning products but be careful to cover your aquariums and ventilate well while doing this. Some additives can be added to paint that claim to prevent mould so you may want to consider repainting. It is of paramount importance that you take the steps above before repainting as you need to let the damp dry out.

In Short

While evaporation in your marine aquarium can damage the health of your fish and coral due to salinity swings. It can also damage your home and your health if you aren’t ventilating enough. This is a big problem in older homes that have had draughts sealed and in new builds with very little air movement. Get those windows open frequently to allow the evaporated water to escape so it doesn’t make your home damp. Thanks for reading and spending your time with Simple Reefs.