Heating Tanks

[CACAdmin]

Heating our fishtanks for our tropical fish can be expensive. This is Canada and many places get some pretty figid temperatures. That means heating bills can be high and so people often try to keep the heat down a bit and bundle up more at home. Depending upon the temps you keep your house over the winter, it may mean your heaters in tanks are on more.

What to do you, if anything, to conserve energy and maintain heat in your tanks over the winter?

[GaryofMontreal]

In many ways, it comes down to the fish we keep. If you have one or two tanks of warm water tropicals, you can put thin insulation in a few spots on a tank, but ultimately, you have to pay for the heater to run. I have changed the fish I keep in order to have a larger set-up I can afford.
Wild-type livebearers (at least Xiphophorus) and many Aphyosemion killifish like cooler tanks, as long as the room they're in runs at 18+. They usually prefer slightly warmer, but they can handle a winter while they wait for better times.
My rainbows and cichlids need heat, and there, they get heat and I pay up to keep them.

One good trick is to hit the library or bookshop and see if you can find books from the 1950s or before. Then, there was a thriving aquarium hobby at a time when heaters were unreliable and uncommon. Houses were cool in winter and the fish tank was generally unheated. Have a look at that they kept back then. A lot of species they considered difficult and we consider easy were probably reacting to temperatures, but a lot of fish we heat now did very well indeed then.

[Namor]

Great post Gary. And Jay, a timely thread. :yes:

Current temp in my neck of the woods is -28 with a windchill another 10 degrees colder.

In areas with temps like that, those shrink film window insulation kits REALLY help.

Most home/hardware stores carry them, and are relatively inexpensive.

[Cashmere_socks]

I only have one tank, so keeping it heated doesnt factor into my bills. I assume that when my MTS develps I will have to keep this in mind :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

I did a quick google to find out more about the shrink film insulation kits and found something else: Nansulate (http://www.nansulate.com/homeprotect.htm?_kk=insulation&_kt=53ffa3e1-61fd-46a4-918a-eeee08bec894&gclid=CJCh1ZjGt6UCFRBzgwodIRZeZw) Not cheap ($80 gallon) but it's a clear paint-on insulation. It would be interesting to know how well it would work on a fish tank. (You probably wouldn't want to do the front but maybe the back and possibly the sides.

[bae3]

(1) Cover the tanks. Evaporation takes heat, and condensation releases it. If you can reduce the amount of moisture that escapes your tanks, you can save energy. If you have a lot of tanks, this will reduce the amount of moisture that condenses on (or worse, inside) cold walls.

(2) Insulate the tanks. I like to use a layer of dark brown corkboard or styrofoam beadboard painted dark brown on the backs of my tanks. It looks good and provides insulation. This is especially effective if the tank backs onto an outside wall.

(3) Lower the tank temperature. Heat loss is proportional to the square of the difference in temperature, so if you reduce the difference by half, the heat loss will be reduced by a factor of four. Many people keep their tanks at relatively high temperatures, 80F+, while most fish are healthier and live longer at temps of 72-75F. A lower temp also increases the amount of oxygen that can dissolve in the water.

[amaruq]

Just one question what do you cover the tanks with?

Will it affect the light or are you talking just at night?

Ok it was a few questions :)

[Piker]

(1) Cover the tanks. Evaporation takes heat, and condensation releases it. If you can reduce the amount of moisture that escapes your tanks, you can save energy. If you have a lot of tanks, this will reduce the amount of moisture that condenses on (or worse, inside) cold walls.
Definitely. I was losing up to 2 inches a week before I cut glass to fit the top. Once I did I had to turn down the heater several degrees.


(2) Insulate the tanks. I like to use a layer of dark brown corkboard or styrofoam beadboard painted dark brown on the backs of my tanks. It looks good and provides insulation. This is especially effective if the tank backs onto an outside wall.
Gotta try this. I wonder how effective it would be when I imagine most heat(rises) escapes through the top.


(3) Lower the tank temperature. Heat loss is proportional to the square of the difference in temperature, so if you reduce the difference by half, the heat loss will be reduced by a factor of four. Many people keep their tanks at relatively high temperatures, 80F+, while most fish are healthier and live longer at temps of 72-75F. A lower temp also increases the amount of oxygen that can dissolve in the water.
For show tanks but when trying to breed many fish require an increase in temp.
I usually keep my tanks @ 78F, with my ram tank @ 82F.