Heating a fish room

Charney · Sep 19, 2014

doubledragon said:
Hi, congratulations on the new house with a fish room!!!
I read through this thread and can't believe nobody pointed you towards the easiest way to help heat a fish room... You need to start with a dehumidifier and then you can probably stop looking for a heat source after that... I'ts also a necessity to keep it from raining in there.

I have about 3k worth of freshwater in the basement with almost 1k having no covers at all... I run a LG 65pt dehumidifier and it keeps the room around 80 all winter long. It also keeps the humidity well under control. I also ripped out all my insulation before I setup the fishroom cause I didn't want to finish the ceiling and didn't want the pink stuff to fall in any of my tank's. So your basement will be more efficient if your going to insulate it. The key is to put it in a very open part of the room so it circulates well. I also dump mine three times a day manually instead of using the hose cause I think it collects more... At first I had it stuffed off to the side and ran the hose to a drain, it only worked 30 percent as good as the way I have it set up now.

The tank's hold out at a great temp all winter, I use fx-5's and emp 400 hobs. The lower smaller tanks get a little cool cause they are close to the ground, but those impellers put out constant heat also. They never drop below 74ish. All the tank's that dont sit on the floor stay at like 78 - 84 in the winter. I have been running this LG dehumidifier for many years and it works great. In the summer though it's to hot. I open the door and put a fan blowing in the door 24/7 to keep the humidity flowing out and the room from getting to hot. If I had windows in the basement I could just open them in the summer.

Thank you for the input. That is really interesting. If the dehumidifier is putting out that much heat does it mean it is not efficient? Also thanks for the congrats. At this point I have sold my place but still working on securing the next one. almost all of the places I am looking at have unfinished basements though

mudbuttjones · Sep 19, 2014

My basement room is very small. Probably 15x15 sqft. In warmer months my dehumidifier heats the room. Its almost too much down there.

My dad has a fishroom and he uses one of those oil filled space heaters that look like a large oldschool radiator on wheels. Its only 5-600 watts on the lower settings and does have a thermostat. It keeps the basement nice and toasty, plus the concrete walls are insulated. They cost less than $100, if you have alot of tanks and heaters its not hard to endup having close to 1,000 watts in heaters. Its not the most economical option to run, but very inexpensive upfront compared to adding on to your home's HVAC system or furnace.

:edit:

I shudder to think about what my dehumidifier draws in electricity. It's an ancient rusty whirlpool unit. Makes alot of noise and heat. But it pulls water like nobody's business. Better than alot of the cheaply foreign made plastic disposable units.

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rodger · Sep 19, 2014

Anything that produces heat via electricity is equally efficient. One 500W aquarium heater is exactly the same efficiency as another brand. The dehumidifier is actually fighting itself. It has cooling coils that evaporate water from the air. A byproduct of that is heat from the condenser. It is baisicly an air conditioner draining the water into a drain. It just doesn't have the ass end sticking outside.

rodger · Sep 19, 2014

Running a central electric room heater really is LESS efficient than individual tank heaters. If you have a bank of tanks three high, you can heat the bottom row only. Lets say it is at 80 degrees. The tanks immediately above them would be heated to 76-77, and the third row a little less. You now aren't trying to heat a whole room, just the area with the tanks. If you put some styrofoam on the back and ends of the tanks it will help keep the heat where you want it. They row of aquarium heaters will run less than the central heater that is the same total wattage. Don't believe it, get a Kill-A-Watt from Amazon and test for yourself.

paulW · Sep 19, 2014

rodger said:
I am installing one of these in my fish room. This one is natural gas, but available in propane as well. It is ventless but has a low O2 shutoff.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Williams...ater-with-Manual-Thermostat-3086542/202903146
Someone mentioned using the water heater. I had planned on doing it at one time, but my wife changed my location of the fish room and it was no longer practical. Here is a link about doing that.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1561871

Be careful with the ventless gas heater. Since they are ventless, all the water vapor from combustion goes right into the air.
Can cause very high humidity if they run a lot. I found out the hard way.
They might work if they don't have to run very often. I am not an expert, just telling you to watch out.

Charney · Sep 21, 2014

paulW said:
Be careful with the ventless gas heater. Since they are ventless, all the water vapor from combustion goes right into the air.
Can cause very high humidity if they run a lot. I found out the hard way.
They might work if they don't have to run very often. I am not an expert, just telling you to watch out.

thank you will have to research this

Charney · Sep 21, 2014

So came across a new house on the market (feels like all I am doing now is looking at houses (no I am not basing my future purchase on the basement alone)). This house is run of natural gas for the whole house except the basement. the basement is run off electric heat. Will keeping the future fish room warm with electric heat (goal is to run the tanks at about 80) be cost effective? I know rodger made a comment but not sure if this differs from space heaters. thanks

aldiaz33 · Sep 21, 2014

Heating the entire room versus heating the tanks directly is always a controversial topic.

I'm in the heat the tank directly camp. I can't see how heating an entire room would be cheaper/more efficient than heating the water directly and insulating the tank as much as possible to retain that heat.

You might be forced to run a dehumidifier...high levels of humidity can wreck a house. Unfortunately, they are power hogs. The LG 65 pint unit mentioned above draws upwards of 800 watts.

I don't have any first hand experience with them, but I heard that heat pumps are very efficient if you decide to go the route of heating the room.

rodger · Sep 22, 2014

I put a high CFM fart fan in my fish room. I put it on a humidistat. It has served me well and is cheap to buy and operate. I painted my fish room with exterior paint that has an algaecide in it. That was done prior to putting tanks in it.

Charney · Mar 3, 2015

sorry to bump up an old thread. The construction is underway. I am definitely going to heat the room. The plan as of now is to add a third zone to the gas furnace and put a 12 foot radiator in the fish room. The other option would be to put a smaller electric radiator in the room (which the room actually currently has and i am going to remove). Any thought on this. I also like the Natural-Gas Infrared Plaque Vent-Free Wall Heater with Manual Thermostat idea someone mentioned but thought the furnace would be better. any input?


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