Dehumidification warning!

[returnofsid]

We all know that our aquariums can cause humidity issues, in our homes. While these humidity issues can be fixed, fairly easily, please use some caution in doing so. Here's our story.

We have a lil' over 300 gallons of aquariums, all on the main floor of our home and our humidity level was outrageously high, at around 80%. We were starting to get some mold in some areas and finally decided it was time to do something about it. So, after doing about a week of research on dehumidifiers, I decided on a Soleus 50 pint unit. The instructions say to run it, on continuous operation, for the first 24 hours, instead of using the timer or humidstat controller. I can see, in most homes, this wouldn't create an issue, as most homes wouldn't have an initial humidity of 80%. So, I plugged it in, at about 9PM, Friday evening. Saturday morning, our humidity was down to 40%. Within a couple of hours, I started feeling ill and started experiencing shortness of breath. By noon, I felt like I was near death! I could barely breath, my extremities were tingling, close to being numb and I had a very bad cough that just wouldn't quit! So, Angie took me to minor emergency. By the time we got there, I was begging for oxygen as I felt that no matter how much I inhaled, I wasn't getting enough oxygen. They did give me a breathing treatment, which helped, temporarily. While there, Madison started showing similar symptoms. After we got home, Angie started showing symptoms and both our dog and cat had puked, several times, in the home, while we were gone. This morning is the first time I've been out of bed, since returning from minor emergency, Saturday afternoon. My oldest daughter, Amber, came over to take care of us, Saturday night and brought us her humidifier...lol.

The doctor believes that the root cause of all of this was the sudden HUGE drop in humidity. It's something that I didn't even consider, when setting up the dehumidifier. Instructions said to run continuously for 24 hours, so I did, without a thought. Yesterday, we actually had a humidifier running all day. When we do restart the dehumidifier, I'm going to do so very cautiously, dropping the humidity in the home very slowly! Back to the credo "Nothing good in this hobby happens fast."

[mojoreef]

Wow wouldnt have thought that one Mike, hope you all feel better.


Mike

[IPisces]

Wow...thats crazy. Never would have thought about that.
I have humidity issues too, but I have two large windows and a sliding glass door in the same room that get left open year round just for that reason. I have 300 gallons of tanks between that room and the adjoining room.

[returnofsid]

A secondary possibility could be that by drying out the mold, the mold spores were able to go airborn, allowing us to inhale them, more easily.

[eww]

Great information. We are battling moisture in the main living area of the house ever since setting up the 180. We are researching dehumidifiers now, so when we do purchase and set up we will do so cautiously.

[Krish]

That's a bummer Sid! Hope you are all feeling better now. These tanks cause more problems sometimes than you think!!


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[Scooterman]

A secondary possibility could be that by drying out the mold, the mold spores were able to go airborn, allowing us to inhale them, more easily.

That sounds more like it, mold can do that, even though a huge drop in humidity would dry out your sinuses, not sure if that would do that to you. We have normally over 85% on average here in Louisiana and in the house i like to be around 50% to 55% humidity, very conformable but the sudden changes don't cause issues like that but maybe we're just use to the high humidity? Central A/C's can drop the humidity even faster than a humidifier that size, like in an hour or so.

[Herefishyfishy]

I am not a DR nor anything similar, but as a betting man would guess the drop in humidity predisposed you to not just the spores, but perhaps some bacteria and you got a lung infection aka pneumonia

[n-kleine]

Hello. Sorry to hear of your illness. My family has been fighting similar symptoms off and on for a few years now. My son has a wierd sounding dry cough especially when the temp changes outside. The doctors can't seem to find what is causing this. My humidity level in the house seems normal. We only get a little on the windows and doors like you see everyone else getting without a tank. Do you have to run a dehumidifier if you have a large tank? I try to cover mine as much as possible too. Anyone else out there having upper respitory issues?

[returnofsid]

A secondary possibility could be that by drying out the mold, the mold spores were able to go airborn, allowing us to inhale them, more easily.

For some reason the doctor seemed to discount this as a possibility, when I suggested it.

I am not a DR nor anything similar, but as a betting man would guess the drop in humidity predisposed you to not just the spores, but perhaps some bacteria and you got a lung infection aka pneumonia

This is along the same thoughts I had, though the doctor disagreed. It was actually quite scary, feeling like I was suffocating. It's also quite strange that it hit all of us, so quickly, though it hit me the worst, by far, and also seemed to effect our cat and dog.

[Herefishyfishy]

This is along the same thoughts I had, though the doctor disagreed. It was actually quite scary, feeling like I was suffocating. It's also quite strange that it hit all of us, so quickly, though it hit me the worst, by far, and also seemed to effect our cat and dog.

Ahh, so all in household including the pets was similarly affected. Yes can see why the good DR said don't sweat it. Keep in mind though, after any resperatory distress, you are more at risk of infection so lay low for a few days, avoiding any potential pathogen carriers.

[mercenary-grunt]

im with mike, i would get a second opinion. and you could have atarted with a lower immunsystem. and do you have ozon running in your tank and if you do is it running right?? this is sounding like what i just read on O3. maybe check it out.

[dtd87]

I hope you are feeling better, a very scary situation

[returnofsid]

Nope, not running any Ozone at all. I think the drastic change just effected all of us, possibly opening up our lungs to bugs or at least making it easier for the bugs to take hold. Madison was fine this morning. Angie is feeling quite a bit better, but is still suffering some. I'm still really suffering from violent coughing episodes and major chest pains, probably from the coughing.

[Skimmy]

wow, i have a dehu and it constantly goes from 60-80% down to 30-40% with no ill effects, this has been for over 6 months.