Garage tank temp fluctuation?

the more water in the tank, the less the temp will fluctuate. remember that there are seasons and temp changes in central America too. cichlids will adapt, but I would watch to make sure it doesn't dip below 70.

+1

Yeah it should be fine, last summer my house had temp swings from 84 in the day down to 76 at night and all my fish were fine.

Garages can be insulated, but typically aren't. The floors can be covered, but typically aren't. Heating ducts rarely are in garages. What that means is that you are typically going to have to run extra heaters in the tank the winter, and possibly still have an issue with ambient temps in the garage. Again, typically. I would not suggest running a space heater in an enclosed space 24/7 for many serious reasons (CO, fire, cost). Insulating the tank is an option.

My ambient temps in my garage in Illinois would easily drop to 20 degrees. In Cali, it's rarely below 50. You will likely have something in between as a low point.


In the summer, it's a bit easier to handle warm water if you have a sump, or can find some other way to allow some of the water to evaporate.

For winter I would have a gas heater installed if you heat with gas. I am doing that this year so I don't have to run so darn many heaters. I have converted my garage into a fish room but I have two heat ducts and insulated the hell out of it. It still isn't warm enough. I got rid of the garage door and installed French doors.

You're fine with those temp changes. If it swings 20+ degrees, you might want to make adjustments to heating or cooling- but I agree with the post above. Cent Amer sees temp swings, too, so fish should be ok adjusting within a few degrees.

Foam board is not expensive. Insulate the walls as much as your can. You might even consider insulating the floor. Might be able to find a Garage coating for the floor that should help. any rubber based flooring will help. Are you having it up to 80 degrees already? What about the ceiling of the garage? Does it have any insulation. Lowes and Home Depot sell foam boards that will help keep the heat in a lot during the winter. You will save the money you spent to insulate in the first winter.

This may not work if your garage is "normal size", but in my former residence I had a 2 car garage with a high ceiling (the garage roof was an extension of the living space portion of the house roof and not an add-on, and there was an attic above the living space.). In that case, I could have built or purchased an enclosure for the inside of my garage. On the other hand, heating the garage without insulating it would have been prohibitive.

If you cover (insulate) the floor, and then have a rectangular nearly airtight enclosure around the tanks, you'll retain a larger portion of the electricity (in the form of heat) that is already going into the tanks. The cheapest and simplest way is to set up poles or a 2x4 rectangular frame, and then use an inside and outside layer of 4mm film to cover it. A simple door and you can save a lot of work on the garage itself.

The drawback is doing water changes and losing more space in the garage, but it could be taken down once average daily temps are in the 50's.

Heating a whole garage is daunting when winters get cold unless you are willing to insulate it well. I personally think it's great if you plan to keep the house and really use the garage as an extra room. A lot of the ideas about will work as well.