Fishkeeping hobby is no fun anymore.

If you keep fish that don't require heated water your humidity problems will be greatly lessened if not eliminated. Evaporation is a function of temperature differential between the water and the surrounding air, and of course the ambient humidity. Look into NA natives, Goldfish, or even cold-hardy tropicals like White Clouds, Black Skirt Tetras, Bloodfin Tetras, etc.
 
Yes, that's a thought. I am considering "pulling" the heaters instead of having them set to 70F. Still a 20 F difference between the room temps.I think the danios and killies would be OK with the lower temps./ Not sure about the plecos and the bettas would be problematic. Since the two bettas are now back in a divided tank, maybe I'll leave their tank as the only heated tank here.

I like goldies and they've been on my list.
I'd have room for two goldfish after two tanks have been emptied, except of course I'd be right back to where I started in terms of water volume.
 
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i think a plec would be fine. in the winter i only have one heater, so most of my tanks stay at 70. maybe 68 on a REALLY cold day. but the plec is fine, and so are my mbunas
 
I always wante to do a native tank, you should try it! Just buy a couple cheap minnow traps, set and bait them, and see what you catch. The great thing is, they need no heaters (less evap), and as long as you keep them seperate from any tropicals, you can release them when they get too big or you get tired of them. You can collect local fish, inverts, wood, rocks, plants.... lots of fun! You could even get a small seine, and go seining!!
 
to expand on that u can also catch things like sunfish and catfish and other fish native to your area.
 
yikes, i think its more than just the fish tanks causing the mold in your house, although they can contribute i do believe something else is afoot. Do you live in a basement? or keep the fish in a basement? Ive got 5 aquariums in my basement, 2 30 gals, 1 55 gal, and one ten gal, and 1 2 gal. I've had mold issues in the past but once i gutted and threw out the moldy walls, reinsulated, and solved the problem (water leaking in from outside) the mold has been gone for 2 years.
 
I suspect there is more than the tanks causing your mold. In a well ventilated room there shouldn't be a problem. Two of the rooms in my house are a nice comfortable temperature due to the tanks. For a long time I ran a fan 24/7 in an open window to keep the warmth down.

Good luck!
 
what size tanks are you running and how many do you have?

I too suspect that it is not your tanks causing your moisture/mold issues.

with normal glass tops, you should get very little evaporation from your tanks. certainly not enough to cause these issues.

but if the building itself has issues, then you are going to have problems.

the fish tanks are the first thing that you might think is the problem, but they may be nothing to do with the issues.

I used to run 350g worth of tanks in a basement and had no issues with moisture or humidity.

the thing that you don't want to have happen is for you to sell all your stuff only to find out that the issues are still there..and that the fish tanks had nothing to do with it.
 
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