Not sure how humidity is not a concern on the prairie? Thats where its the most concern, as we have cold winters. Unless ones house leaks like a sieve. Yes, its dry air outside but its needs to be brought in to the house and exchanged with the humid house air that needs venting.
At least this has always been my experience and most other well built houses I have seen, with or without aquariums. And an HRV is the way to go, bar none. A Humidex may be fine but I will ask again, for the 100th time,
, how does it differ from an exaust fan for humidity and opening a window for replacement air.
De-humidifiers are not cost effective and dont work well in the winter in the cold. Now for Keri that lives on the west coast, I dont know for sure how an HRV will do, as it relies on dry outside air in the winter. Thats why they are not much more than an air exchanger in the summer and actually should not be run if central air, which is the best summer humidity fixer upper, is being ran.
Perhaps an exchanger like the Humidex may work well on the coast? Or just one of the fancy exaust systems many run on their tanks out there already.
But when winter is winter and your house is sealed up like they should be now, HRV is the best. As a matter of fact I thought they were going to be code in all new places now. I do know most new homes have them installed in cold climates. They just cannot breath without them and thus it affects us. And this is in homes with normal humidity concerns.
Another good option for winter, is a good wood stove. That really moves moisture out and drys the air.
But not feasable in most applications.
Or do as I have now. {my last several homes all had hrv,s installed}. I have a central exaust system which works well and make up air comes in via the furnaace freash air intake. Now not very efficient but does ok. However it was not enough for my larger tanks, so I now run a 20 or 30g size. If I had ordered a new place instead of the display we had purchased, I would have had an hrv installed at the factory.
Anywho, thats some of my views and experience. Take it FWIW.