Something to think about... mold caused by your tank(s)

So today I was cleaning... decided to pull the couch away from the wall to vacuum. I saw mold. It was not just a little mold... it was a lot of mold. I would say about 15 feet of wall was covered in mold from the floor to about 3 feet up.

I began reading on how to handle this... I found that due to the amount I had I should have had it professionally removed however I chose to do it myself.

You wonder what this has to do with fish tanks? Well I've lived in this house for eight years, never had any mold. Got my first tank (75gal) in January last year. By this winter I had two 75gals in the same room. I noticed that it was more humid in here, and it actually seemed kind of nice... until today.

If any of you live in the cold areas of the country you may want to keep this in mind. This time of year since it's so cold our houses are all closed up and the only circulation is the furnace and apparently that's not enough!

Some of you will chastise me for not having it professionally cleaned I am sure. This was a risk I took. I do not have insurance right now so maybe this wasn't smart. I'll find out how dumb of an idea it was to clean it myself if I get sick or not.

Just in case anyone is wondering I scrubbed it all with soap and water first, let it dry then went back over everything with a 10/3 water/bleach combination.

Just something to keep in mind...!

 

I had to do something similar. I used a bleach solution too. Check your window sills as well.. mine get quite wet.

 

Yea I didn't add the fact that all 10 windows in my house had it, plus two wood doors (which are old) were very bad. These two doors are the side door and back door which we aren't using much right now because of the weather and I guess they were overlooked. My sons bedroom had it also, where his mattress was up against the wall - it was very bad there. I was cleaning mold for at least 3 hours.

 

I think cleaning it yourself is fine. I would have done the same. I may have just cleaned with bleach first.

Is that an outside wall? If so, it must not be insulated well. I'd pull the couch away from it a bit so you get more air flowing through there. If you are using a humidifier turn it down. May also want to get some fans going to circulate the air more.

 

They are outside walls and I know they aren't insulated well because of how freaking cold they are in the winter. Humidifier? haha Didn't need that this winter with the fish tanks! That 3+ gallons a day were going somewhere... and not just to my skin...!

 

Well, pulling the couch away from the wall isn't going to fit it then.

You need a whole house dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers - Honeywell Your Home Expert

 

I run two Dehumidifiers in the house.

 

Did you get it all off ? You might want to watch and see if it got into the drywall. Maybe put some good primer down or you will have to replace the drywall.

 

I did get it all off, or so I think. I actually don't have drywall, I have the old horse hair plaster... That stuff is a pain to rip out! I've been keeping a close eye on any that might re-appear. I did start running a de-humidifier but it's not technically big enough for the house - but I figure it's better than nothing!

 

I dont think you have to worry about mold or anything getting into that plaster. LOL. Well yeah, it is better than having nothing.