Mold Experts: Save my aquarium!

Thanks for all that info, Dun! Some people think I'm crazy to react the way I do and avoid certain things (for example, turning down a job scanning moldy scrapbooks onto the computer when I worked in a copy shop) but I know it's all very real and necessary.
 
Thinking about it brings to mind a question (two actually) What is the temp of the basement and what is the temp of the tank? The greater the temperature differential (with all other factors being equal) the greater the rate of evaporation. Cooling the tank or warming the room could go a long way towards solving the problem.
 
Thanks guys. I have no idea what it is, but Mom is already blaming all of her health problems on the unknown rumored-to-be-mold substance. D'oh! Hate to get rid of the aquariums, so hopefully I can just wipe it down with bleach and run a dehumidifier, but in a choice between aquariums and health...

It's on the top floor boards and the joist. It's literally just splotchy in a probably 2 foot by 8 foot area on the ceiling above the tanks. Temperature in the basement is about 68, in the tanks it's 78. Humidity in the basement measures 35% even at ceiling level - I'm using one of those handheld digital meters, so I'm not sure what the margin of error is there.

I wheeled in a dehumidifier from the other room that wasn't being used and cranked the think on, as well as covering the tanks with plastic wrap until glass hoods arrive.

I'm horribly paranoid about these things, so my instinct was to just get rid of everything and get it down to one small tank and call someone professional out to get rid of the mold, but that sounds a little too extreme for the situation.
 
kj5kb... absolutely! excellent input!

you're more than welcomed, platy. feel free to do your own research. there's a small handful of government agencies and private companies alike with great information and foresight you're probably missing out on. the down side... you'll have to correlate between one and the other often as most places refuse to correlate the minors with the majors the way long term exposure happens to put people through the stages. i'm sure you get what i'm saying....

sub... excellent question. the location seems to suggest that right above the tank is actually cooler than the rest of the joists/rafters/floorboards. that would coincide with common knowledge according to how evaporation works. sooo... the air is rising moist, brushing the ceiling/floor causing some to lay and some to evaporate... further cooling that area... further condensing in that area... further soaking into that area. cyclically horrid on an irritating level.

to go along with sub's Q; rh can be determined using temp of a solid, non-porous object. if one were to take a thermometer and leave it in a moist area to get the temp... then blow a fan on it and make note of the temp it stops at one would have the numbers necessary to determine approximate rh in that location. i don't remember the formula off-hand since i've usually used thermal hygrometers, psychrometric calculators, thermal imaging cameras, etc., etc. and haven't used the formula but once when i set up my viv some time back. however, it works out accurate enough to make a decision how to treat a small area.

MidnightPyro... lose the dehu if you're commonly that low... or even up around 60%, maybe a little more. do yourself a favor and just hang a fan from the rafters blowing from one end of the problem area to the other. if your basement is at 30%, her health problems are more likely from drying out, fatigue and such that comes with it, sinus issues, bowel, heart, etc. issues are possible... all from the house not being humid enough as basements are typically the most moist areas and 35% is already below the suggested "comfort range" for humans. the dehu might just make things worse, but your mold will still get the blame....

HTH

plus, drying out that room any more will only lead to more evaporation and your tds constantly rising/needing attention in any tanks you have down there.... soooo.... the dehu sounds like a double whammy when it comes to negative health effects for you guys AND the fish... ;)
 
wow, so much confusing and conflicting information here...

mold grows at the coolest (condensation stop) in a high humidity room,
so you must lower the humidity by removing standing water OR adding
a dehumidifier that drains to your plumbing, not to a water holding tank.
It's also possible the moisture is from some plumbing failure above it,
or a failure in the vapor barrier in your walls to the outdoors.

removing the mold will only help spread it around, so it's best to wait
till the room and mold surface is dry, then acrylic paint the mold over
thus sealing and killing it and keeping it's spores from going airborne.
most abatement companies do not remove mold, they seal it in if the
entire surface it's growing on cannot be removed intact and replaced.

remind your family that mold is a very natural life form that humans
have been living with for millenium, so your house is not "toxic"
and it's all in their heads thanks to our crazy media, which also
makes us fear ghosts, vampires, aliens, meteors, sugar, etc.
I'm sure the room was already humid, and your tanks simply
push it over the tipping point above 50% where mold grows.

if the house smells "moldy" buy a true HEPA filter and make sure
it's running every time you dust and vacuum around the house.
there is little need to keep it running all the time unless someone
has a specific and well diagnosed breathing ailment like asthma.

any dehumidifier must keep humidity below 40% to be effective,
and HEPA filter must be rated to the square footage of the space,
and don't go cheap on the HEPA filter, or if the house has forced
air HVAC get finer grade filter panels and change them more often.
most dehumidifiers have inaccurate humidistats, so it's a good
idea to buy another humidistat to monitor and confirm humidity.
 
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haha... spypet... i posted my qualifications. if you're going to call me out, mind posting yours?

yes... a dehu has to keep things below 40% to dry an area (or so they say... that's really just for safety purposes so the room doesn't start raining from the rafters once air movers are in place) ;)... but not to be effective. lgr's (low grain refrigerants) can get their output down around ~10% if you get a good one. desiccants can go as low as ~4%... once again... if you have access to a good one. however... the air in the room can be any percentage above 4 and the right dehu will still do it's job. also... the op already stated getting readings from that very room in the 30% range... much too low to even consider a dehu as this will only make life miserable for the inhabitants. there's also hanging desiccant bags you can purchase for basements in many places. the crystals just attract the water, the bag fills up and you toss it out and get another one to replace it. but AGAIN... readings quoted thus far in that particular basement aren't even 40%... which is below the limit for human health.

either way... i got what i needed to know to get rid of the mold issue... the room isn't above 30% rh, isn't freezing cold and the mold is isolated to a small area.... a fan will most certainly be the demise of that mold as long as it's left to run... a couple of pc fans can probably take care of this situation over a short period of time, honestly, but i'd go with a small house fan that can be mounted set on low speed aimed right at the ceiling. no fuss, no muss... set your alarm clock for one week and watch it go away................

also... i want to note that many home dehumidifiers WILL NOT reduce the RH in the air below 30% anyways, so will most likely be a major waste of time... and money... and electricity...
 
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Thanks everyone -the advice really is appreciated. It's nice to know elimination of the aquariums isn't the only way to fix the problem permanently.

In order to appease the parents, I got a respirator and some safety goggles today and just wiped off all of the visible mold with a bleach solution (making sure to cover the tanks).

The humidity in the basement still measures 35%. The meter I have is far from deadly scientific accuracy, so it could be off or inaccurate. I purchased a new one online so I'll compare and see if there's any problem there. Temperature is in the mid-60's.

The mold is literally just on the joist and the ceiling above the aquariums - it's location almost 100% corresponds to the ceiling above the aquarium. There's no mold I can see anywhere else in the house. Is it possible there could be mold with the humidity so low if the meter is correct?

I'm going to dial down the temperature in the tank a couple of degrees and add glass tops to both of them. I've been running open-top before now as they're planted tanks.

I have both an Honeywell HEPA air purifier and an older dehumidifier that weren't being used. I put both of them in the area and cranked them both up. The HEPA air purifier sure as heck puts out a lot of air movement, conveniently right upwards at the ceiling. After 24 hours of dehumidifier use, it doesn't seem to have collected much water at all.

Getting rid of the aquariums to solve the mold problem would be a major bummer, but if it's absolutely necessary, then it is, but it sounds like there's plenty of remedies to try before bailing out of aquaria completely should be an option.
 
even if your meter is completely wacko (with the exception of dead batteries throwing your readings all over town)... a measurement of 30's should still put you in short work range. as well... not having a full reservoir over the course of the day confirms your readings and my assertions of the usefulness of a residential unit under such a low rh as it is. it's not what you need it seems... and is a big waste of money and effort over the longrun. if you're putting it down there to appease the parental units, that's understandable. ;)

air cleaners/purifiers are very wasteful with energy typically. a small cheap fan will pay for itself over time, pretty quickly (the parents should appreciate that!!!). once the colony seems to have died off and you feel comfortable that you're not blowing it all over the place i'd switch out to a fan only. you don't necessarily want a lot of air movement... just moving air localized to that affected area, ultimately. no more, no less... should take very little air flow to keep things controlled once they're under wraps.

temps in the low 60's and below can lead to refrigerant dehu's (the kind you find where the water drips into a pan) freezing up and becoming useless due to how they work. think of a window air conditioner freezing up. the 2 are synonymous when it comes to how they work and most of the parts. however... the a/c blows the cool air into the room and runs the condensate out the window. the dehu blows the hot, dry air into the room that would normally go out the window and channels the condensate into a reservoir or a drain hose. same parts somewhat reversed for different jobs. so, freezing the unit is a possibility under cool, moist conditions. in the 60's should be fine. below that might be an issue of ruined equipment if it's left to run frozen.

good to hear things are looking up. don't have much time to be on here lately, but as you can see i'm checking in for you from time to time. hope all goes well, and you don't have to worry about re-locating your little guys. you should be fine, actually... so don't worry too much.

also... just to note... mold is everywhere and lives in all conditions... some are more typical than others... but RH is not the bottom line (as you can see from your situation) HOWEVER!!!... mold really seems to not like constant air movement. my viv that rests at over 90% RH at ALL times and houses NO visible mold proves that quite well.
 
the mold appearing above an open tank seems a strange coincidence, not a direct cause and effect. evaporated water would migrate around the room, not go straight up like steam. I strongly suspect there is a cold spot in the ceiling from a nearby cold water pipe, or some other drain or vapor barrier failure delivering this moisture to that spot, not your open top aquarium.
 
spypet said:
the mold appearing above an open tank seems a strange coincidence, not a direct cause and effect. evaporated water would migrate around the room, not go straight up like steam. I strongly suspect there is a cold spot in the ceiling from a nearby cold water pipe, or some other drain or vapor barrier failure delivering this moisture to that spot, not your open top aquarium.
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or a toilet or bathtub directly above that spot (it's definitely possible)... but the tank is definitely the last straw apparently... or there would have been signs before. either way... the fan will cure the issue. if there are pipes, porcelain or iron above that spot helping cause the issue, simply moving the tank should help it subside on it's own.
 
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