Methods of heating ray Tanks

rich81090 · May 20, 2014

As you all know ray tanks in the most part are very large even huge in comparison to what the standard aquarium may be, I was just
wondering what techniques people are mostly using to heat their aquariums or fish houses with regards to running costs?

I guess submersible heater would be common, but how many people heat the air around the tank instead of the water using radiators or other heat sources,
I am also interested if anyone has used air source heat pumps, as that is an option I am seriously considering presently.

reference to location would be useful as i guess geographic location would be a key factor.

Zoodiver · May 21, 2014

Typically I prefer in line heaters/chillers. No way the animals can make physical contract with it.
That being said, many of my ray systems have been rather large, so the thermal gain from the pumps will keep the water in the right temp range.

Heating the air around a tank would be a lot of added expense compared to heating the water itself.

jim barry · May 21, 2014

Hi Rich
I am in the UK, South Coast. I have a 9x4x2 and have three 3oo watt heaters in the sump. I think it is key to make sure they are in the flow of the water through the sump and not sat in any potentail dead spots. I also fitted a radiator on one of the supporting walls for the tank. This is a small radiator about 3 feet long and 2 feet tall and sits inside the sump area along side the sump itself. This helps in the winter when the central heating is on. If i had thought about it more when designing the build i would have fitted one radiator at each end of the sump area. I think it helps as my electric bill is no bigger in the winter than in the summer, just a huge bill all year round given how stupidly expensive the stuff is!!

rich81090 · May 21, 2014

Zoodiver said:
Typically I prefer in line heaters/chillers. No way the animals can make physical contract with it.
That being said, many of my ray systems have been rather large, so the thermal gain from the pumps will keep the water in the right temp range.

Heating the air around a tank would be a lot of added expense compared to heating the water itself.

My heaters are in a sump next to my refugium so away from any of the inhabitants, but I did wonder if inline heaters are more efficient than simple submersible ones.

rich81090 · May 21, 2014

jim barry said:
Hi Rich
I am in the UK, South Coast. I have a 9x4x2 and have three 3oo watt heaters in the sump. I think it is key to make sure they are in the flow of the water through the sump and not sat in any potentail dead spots. I also fitted a radiator on one of the supporting walls for the tank. This is a small radiator about 3 feet long and 2 feet tall and sits inside the sump area along side the sump itself. This helps in the winter when the central heating is on. If i had thought about it more when designing the build i would have fitted one radiator at each end of the sump area. I think it helps as my electric bill is no bigger in the winter than in the summer, just a huge bill all year round given how stupidly expensive the stuff is!!

Hi Jim,
love many of your rays

I'm from Nottingham, and have two 300 watt heaters in mine the second only as a back up, I am surprized three is enough for a tank of your volume.
I am just finishing a mechanical engineering degree and a key module in that in energy management, and it just seems such a waste to use electricity as a heat source, although many of the alternatives seem to have a very high capital cost.

submergible heaters are nearly 100% efficient but electricity is expensive,
gas boilers are 80% efficient but gas is cheaper than electricity.
Air source heat pumps are 400% efficient but I believe many are designed for much larger instillations like swimming pools, or heating a whole house not a single room :/

litigator666 · May 22, 2014

I have two 2180 filters (500w builtin heaters) and two 2080 to heat and filter my tank as i dont have a sump.

arowana666 · May 22, 2014

I use a pond heater that connects to the plumbing for most of the work and in the winter i have a space heater next to the filter (1450G indoor pond)

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T1KARMANN · May 22, 2014

I have used inline heaters they are good

I now run 4 x 500w heaters in my sump the trick is to insulate the sump very well with thick poly

I do also heat the room in summer with a oil filled rad

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Zoodiver · May 22, 2014

rich81090 said:
My heaters are in a sump next to my refugium so away from any of the inhabitants, but I did wonder if inline heaters are more efficient than simple submersible ones.

It's all in how you set it up. Obviously a heater is based on contact time, so the slower the water is flowing over it, the better it will heat. I've seen some people complain the inline heater they bought is terrible, but they have it right on the main flow, so water is blasting past it before it has chance to heat it. I would suggest an independent circuit for an inline or a side stream off the main line to be able to regulate the flow over it.

T1KARMANN · May 22, 2014

Zoodiver said:
It's all in how you set it up. Obviously a heater is based on contact time, so the slower the water is flowing over it, the better it will heat. I've seen some people complain the inline heater they bought is terrible, but they have it right on the main flow, so water is blasting past it before it has chance to heat it. I would suggest an independent circuit for an inline or a side stream off the main line to be able to regulate the flow over it.

To be fair contact time does play a big part
But the heater should heat up the full tank volume to the set temp so even with more than needed flow the tank should reach the set temp then it won't need to work as hard only moving up or down a few degrees

I found a sump to hold the full volume of the sump at a more stable temp
I put heaters in the sump controlled buy a separate controller with the probes in the main tank
This way when the tank temp drops the sump heats up pushing warm water back into the main tank

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Methods of heating ray Tanks

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