Methods of heating ray Tanks

[rich81090]

I was worried in using electrical for my new setup due to the running costs, but a lot of you use them so they must not be breaking the bank to run.
I guess in a well insulated sump and room the heaters are probably not on as much as i was anticipating. My tank was originally a reef setup, so am using far less elec now than I did then, far fewer pumps, lights and reactors.

Just wanted to make sure i have thought of everything, so can plan it well when the time comes.

 

[DIDYSIS]

I run a hot water drip. But have heaters hooked up to my apex for backup. The hot water drip works really well but takes time to fine tune and some work to setup and run.

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[aldiaz33]

Here are a few reasons why I went with standard submersible aquarium heaters:

1. Upfront cost- I was able to buy 1,800 watts of standard electric aquarium heaters and a quality temp controller for ~$200. The In-line heaters that I looked at with similar specs (1,500w) were upwards of $600+. It's always a good idea to have a back-up heating system, so multiply the cost difference x 2 and you have $800 in savings.

2. Standard electric aquarium heaters are easily swapped out- depending on how you have them plumbed, if an inline heater fails, it's a bit more work than just pulling out a submersible heater.

3. Redundancy- having multiple standard heaters provides a little insurance versus just running one large in-line heater. If your one larger heater fails and you don’t notice for a while, you could have problems.

4. Natural gas in my area would cost about 1/4 what electric heaters cost, but running a gas line to the tank and plumbing in a natural gas fired heating unit had high initial setup costs that would take many years for a return on investment.

5. I looked into heat pumps, but the model that the manufacturer recommended was several thousand dollars. The return on investment would have taken decades. Most heat pumps designed for pools would've been overkill on a tank, but Aqualogic makes some smaller models in case you are interested: http://www.aqualogicinc.com/heat-pumps.htm. They are expensive though.

I'm no PHD in thermodynamics, so I have a question for you guys saying that contact time is important: where does the energy produced by an in-line heater go if the flow is too quick?

For example, a 1.5KW in-line heater is producing 1.5KW of energy per hour, so where is that 1.5KW going if not into the water?

I can see how contact time would be relevant if the water were not being recirculated (like in a tankless hot water heater delivering water to a faucet), but since the water is circulating, IMO contact time shouldn't matter. Whatever amount of energy the unit is drawing is being absorbed into the water regardless of flow, right? What am I missing?

 

[T1KARMANN]

Another point is I control my temp with the drip so my heaters hardly ever come on unless I want to flush the tank by turning my drip up full over night

My pumps are big and in the sump and generate a lot of heat
If I turn my drip off the tank will boil within a few days
The cost of running the bigger pumps is cheaper than running the tank on heaters alone


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[aldiaz33]

Another point is I control my temp with the drip so my heaters hardly ever come on unless I want to flush the tank by turning my drip up full over night

My pumps are big and in the sump and generate a lot of heat
If I turn my drip off the tank will boil within a few days
The cost of running the bigger pumps is cheaper than running the tank on heaters alone

Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

How many watts do your pumps use?

 

[rich81090]

Here are a few reasons why I went with standard submersible aquarium heaters:

1. Upfront cost- I was able to buy 1,800 watts of standard electric aquarium heaters and a quality temp controller for ~$200. The In-line heaters that I looked at with similar specs (1,500w) were upwards of $600+. It's always a good idea to have a back-up heating system, so multiply the cost difference x 2 and you have $800 in savings.

2. Standard electric aquarium heaters are easily swapped out- depending on how you have them plumbed, if an inline heater fails, it's a bit more work than just pulling out a submersible heater.

3. Redundancy- having multiple standard heaters provides a little insurance versus just running one large in-line heater. If your one larger heater fails and you don’t notice for a while, you could have problems.

4. Natural gas in my area would cost about 1/4 what electric heaters cost, but running a gas line to the tank and plumbing in a natural gas fired heating unit had high initial setup costs that would take many years for a return on investment.

5. I looked into heat pumps, but the model that the manufacturer recommended was several thousand dollars. The return on investment would have taken decades. Most heat pumps designed for pools would've been overkill on a tank, but Aqualogic makes some smaller models in case you are interested: http://www.aqualogicinc.com/heat-pumps.htm. They are expensive though.

I'm no PHD in thermodynamics, so I have a question for you guys saying that contact time is important: where does the energy produced by an in-line heater go if the flow is too quick?

For example, a 1.5KW in-line heater is producing 1.5KW of energy per hour, so where is that 1.5KW going if not into the water?

I can see how contact time would be relevant if the water were not being recirculated (like in a tankless hot water heater delivering water to a faucet), but since the water is circulating, IMO contact time shouldn't matter. Whatever amount of energy the unit is drawing is being absorbed into the water regardless of flow, right? What am I missing?

Thanks for the breakdown, I will have to do a similar assessment myself, I think the money required for a heat pump may be better spent on solar pv for the roof. I was looking at mitsubishi heat pumps possible for the whole house and try to regulate the fish room separately.

 

[rich81090]

Another point is I control my temp with the drip so my heaters hardly ever come on unless I want to flush the tank by turning my drip up full over night

My pumps are big and in the sump and generate a lot of heat
If I turn my drip off the tank will boil within a few days
The cost of running the bigger pumps is cheaper than running the tank on heaters alone


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

My t5 lighting also gets very hot, and is only inches above the water line, I am unsure how hot the water would be without heaters but am sure that the pumps and lighting would maintain it the temperature significantly hotter than room temperature.

 

[T1KARMANN]

How many watts do your pumps use?

1 650w 30,000 lph
2 250w 18,000 lph


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[aldiaz33]

1 650w 30,000 lph
2 250w 18,000 lph


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Wow, no wonder you need to run a cold water drip to keep your tank from overheating.

Your pumps (assuming they are all submersible) are the equivalent of having a 1,150 watt heater on 24-7.

I disagree with the idea that running these high watt pumps are better than running more efficient pumps and having heaters make up the difference. The fact that you need to run a cold water drip to keep the tank from overheating shows that there is a lot of wasted energy.

Running more efficient pumps would definitely reduce your power bill, even if you had to rely on heaters to make up the difference to achieve your desired temps.

 

[rich81090]

Wow, no wonder you need to run a cold water drip to keep your tank from overheating.

Your pumps (assuming they are all submersible) are the equivalent of having a 1,150 watt heater on 24-7.

I disagree with the idea that running these high watt pumps are better than running more efficient pumps and having heaters make up the difference. The fact that you need to run a cold water drip to keep the tank from overheating shows that there is a lot of wasted energy.

Running more efficient pumps would definitely reduce your power bill, even if you had to rely on heaters to make up the difference to achieve your desired temps.

I get your point but it isn't entirely true, if the pumps total 1150w then its impossible for 1150w of heat to be produced as no energy would be left to move the water. Although I would imagine that a considerable percentage of that 1150w is being converted into heat energy.