Planted Tank Enthusiast
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Posts: 979
I would say your LFS is incorrect. The moisture content of the lumber in your house is more dependent on the relative humidity outside unless it's so old as to not have a proper vapor barrier. Properly constructed, you should have a vapor barrier on the interior walls to prevent interior humidity from transitioning into the stud cavities where it could condense and cause problems. If you don't, chances are you have lathe and plaster walls and the plaster would suck up any moisture before your studs would have any affect. But even then, it wouldn't have any real effect on the relative humidity in your home unless. Most houses exchange their volume of air with the outside at a given rate, which is why your house is dry in the winter and more humid in the summer. It is virtually impossible to have a hermetically sealed house and it wouldn't be a very good idea to begin with.
I used to work for a company that weather proofed houses, a fan was placed in the door with and a computer measured the pressure rise and calculated the air exchange rate, then we'd use a variety of methods to seal the house up, but never to the extent that air exchange didn't take place, in fact a couple of times we recommended adding ventilation to increase the air exchange. I forget what the ideal rate is, the info is on the web somewhere I'm sure.
BTW, do you have discus? I noticed you list a tank temp of 81 degrees.
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