Looking for ray keepers' advice on heating bigger systems....
- Thread starter DB junkie
- Start date
You might want to look at inline pool heaters or hot tub heaters, that is what the big shops here use. My swimming pool is over 11'000 gallons and I can easily make it too hot for rays but that is a standalone gas, I think in line elec pool heater using a good aquarium controller such as aquatronica would do it.
Also look at modern elec radiators to warm the room as they are cheap to run.
Evacuated solar tubes would be one off expensive but free thereafter.
A big eheim thermofilter has a kettle element in the top and are very effective. The biggest has a good capacity, they are all designed for aquariums and have built in stat, you could add external override with aquatronica. Plus you get extra turnover / filtration
Also look at modern elec radiators to warm the room as they are cheap to run.
Evacuated solar tubes would be one off expensive but free thereafter.
A big eheim thermofilter has a kettle element in the top and are very effective. The biggest has a good capacity, they are all designed for aquariums and have built in stat, you could add external override with aquatronica. Plus you get extra turnover / filtration
What are you running for a pump? So am I understanding correctly that once temp drops the pump is then ran till the temp comes back up?
Running a 1500 watt space heater doesn't sound all too efficient, I imagine there's a low setting or something? Intresting concept though.... Maybe I'll get a few cheapy lil duct fans and vent all the heat fromin the canopy on top the tank to the sump. Recycle the waste heat off the lights, a hidden reason for having the halides on longer..... lol
My tank is in what used to be a drive in garage, so there's no ducts at all. Not a big deal most of the year but once we get into winter it gets pretty chilly down there....
Here is a link to what I use on my system and been running great now for over two years, The only thing is that you need to run 220 wiring and a breaker
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vulcan-Spa-H...079?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb45764cf
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vulcan-Spa-H...079?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb45764cf
I'm only at 800 gallons and still running old school heaters. And I stay between 72-76 on purpose. My heaters are set at 72 and the temp on the tank comes up to 76 sometimes during summer or warm days in the house. I have happy healthy breeding rays so not sure why you would want or need the warmer temps.
Nothing fancy here. I just have 4 300watt heaters set at 86 heating a 1018 gallon pond and now that the cold temps have set in it stays at a constant 78. I was running 3 heaters during the summer and the pool stayed at 82 but i had to add the fourth to maintain 78 with the amount of heat the concrete is sucking out of it. I also add 100 gallons of fresh 86 degree water each day as a water change. Seems to be doing fine and everyone is doing good.
I bought a nice 1.5kw koi pond heater to use for my pond originally, however I have decided to go do something else. I'm going to do a hot water heater line.
If you are looking for an inline heater I would be willing to part with it for cheap.
I have the one without the digital readout. Pm me if your interested.
http://koienterprise.com/Pond-Heaters/ThermaKoi-Heater-p-122.html
If you are looking for an inline heater I would be willing to part with it for cheap.
I have the one without the digital readout. Pm me if your interested.
http://koienterprise.com/Pond-Heaters/ThermaKoi-Heater-p-122.html
Here are some pics, pump is a hayward sp1750 which is a 1/2 hp self priming. The pump runs 24/7 and in the pics you can see the ball valve going into the bottom of the drum, it is now throttled back to force water through the heater, hard to see but there is a tee just before the valve where a 3/4" line runs into the heater. Once out of heater it runs a separate line to the opposite end of tank. Just below the electrical box with the controller you can see the thermal coupling mounted into the pvc elbow. This was before I insulated it. In the last pic you can see the space heater. It is tied in with my exhaust fan the pulls air and moisture out of tank. This is on a timer where is runs for 2 1/2 hours then is off for 1 1/2 hours. So what happens is exhaust fan pulls out while heater blows warm air in. I do not run full on with the air only because of electricity. When it gets really cold I override the timer and let it blow warm air until the temp gets above mid 30s outside.
Very neat and cool setup, Things like this make me very happy to have my tank in my basement, I sit down there for 3 hours or so a night and enjoy all the fish and rays. With winter here I would have a hard time wanting to be in the garage where its very cold. I can see where that heater will heat it really well as you seem to have the setup sealed allot. Does the humidity rust out the heater fast?
