Radiant floor heating for plywood tanks?

xraycer

Arapaima
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Sep 5, 2013
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So, I'm planning a 1K gallon plywood tank project for next summer. I'm constantly running plans and ideas in my head. Recently, I've came up with the idea of a radiant floor heating type system for the project and wonder if: 1) would this even work? 2) if it does work, would be more efficient and cheaper(operating cost) than the standard electric commercial aquarium heaters?

What do you guys think? Has anyone even tried this or has it running?
 

DIDYSIS

Mantilla Stingray
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Feb 9, 2012
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I just don't think it would be that cost effective and your going to heat the plywood and everything up allot. Think of it like a glass heater. How hot is the glass to heat the water it touches

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xraycer

Arapaima
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Sep 5, 2013
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I just don't think it would be that cost effective and your going to heat the plywood and everything up allot. Think of it like a glass heater. How hot is the glass to heat the water it touches

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I see your point, but I would think that this wouldn't be an issue if the tank is heated slowly after the initial fill. After that, the insulated tank should remain consistently at around 80 degrees, so its not like the wood is regularly going through high temp fluctuations.
 

wrslrcichlid

Candiru
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Aug 27, 2011
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Xraycer, I agree with you, and radiant heating is usually quite efficient. The real question is the cost difference for installing it. The other question would be what happens if the radiant heating fails somehow? Would it be possible to service without tearing apart the entire tank?
 

fishguy306

Peacock Bass
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Oct 24, 2005
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Are you thinking something like long strips of flex watt under the tank? I too would be concerned about it not being enough. I have a couple strips under a reptile tank, when running full blast through 3/4" plywood it will only heat it up to 85-90*. I feel like heating a large body of water would require a good deal more than that?
 

coolkeith

Candiru
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Nov 1, 2005
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Depends. Are we talking Electric or Hydronic (Hot Water) radiant floor heaters? I don't think electric would be strong enough to heat an entire 1,000 gallon tank, but if it was strong enough, the electricity bill would be crazy high. Hydronic radial floor heaters could work, but it would probably work better to place the heating tubing in the sump, rather than under a large aquarium. TheFishGuy use to have his 1,600 gallon tank plumbed that way. Had the Hydronic tubing coiled in his sump, which where connected to a pump and thermostat, and plumbed that to his household water heater. It just recirculated the hot water from his hot water heater, when the thermostat kicked in.

Electric substrate heating cables have been used in planted tank for years. The heat helps slowly circulate and distribute nutrients to plant roots, but these heating cables aren't not nearly powerful enough to heat the water in a big tank. They simply aren't made for that purpose.

I've heard of people using waterbed heaters underneath bare bottom glass tanks with some success. Some have tried using waterbed heaters underneath pond liners also, but the radial heat usually causes condensation/moisture problems underneath the liner.
 

mudbuttjones

Fire Eel
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Jul 29, 2014
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I think that it could work but wood is a good insulator and perhaps could be resistant to transferring heat efficiently to the water column and instead may deflect heat down to the substructure of the stand. Heat does rise though... again, im no expert in thermal dynamics.

I would assume the best and most efficient method would be to have the heating element in the tank like most conventional systems. Radiant heat would be very evenly distributed but I would imagine you would have more heat loss into the atmosphere than if the element was surrounded by the water.

Its a neat idea, ive been in plenty of concrete buildings that have had it.

At the end of the day energy is energy and theres no "magic bullet" for heating water. Even if it did work out great, would it be worth the investment?

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skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
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May 16, 2011
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Hello; Should you try some form of this type of heating take some care to prevent shock hazards. Perhaps a GFI outlet of some sort?
 

Yoimbrian

Dovii
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Feb 11, 2013
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Bad idea for energy efficiency and cost.

You lose heat out of a surface based on the temperature difference between the surface and the surroundings. If the bottom of the tank is 80F and well insulated with the plywood you'd lose heat slowly. To keep your tank at 80 your radiant heaters would need to be at somewhere 90+, meaning you'd lose heat way faster to the surroundings since that 90 is exposed. Direct contact is always going to be more efficient.

It'll also cost more and be harder to maintain. You'd need to insulate it, so then if your heat goes out you have this insulated thing under 1000 gallons of water. How do you fix it? You don't, you'd actually just buy in tank heaters I bet and leave the broken radiant heaters below the tank.




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