Anyone here mastered insulation on outdoor tanks?

[coolcomfort]

Has anyone here mastered insulation? I'm tempted to do it on a 300 or 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank

I would be wrapping it around in some wooden box, like this:

I would enclose the box with plywood (waterproof) and inside include some heavy insulator material. Then create a lid for it, which, would also be heavily insulated.

Can this successfully be done and heated in an economical way? I'm looking to get my monthly costs below $35. In Texas, sometimes the temperature can get to 20 degrees and colder. I'm looking for something that can maintain 70 degrees economically. Maybe this isn't feasible, but i'm interested if anyone has been able to do this.

 

[Dloks]

Has anyone here mastered insulation? I'm tempted to do it on a 300 or 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank
View attachment 1362856
I would be wrapping it around in some wooden box, like this:
View attachment 1362857
I would enclose the box with plywood (waterproof) and inside include some heavy insulator material. Then create a lid for it, which, would also be heavily insulated.

Can this successfully be done and heated in an economical way? I'm looking to get my monthly costs below $35. In Texas, sometimes the temperature can get to 20 degrees and colder. I'm looking for something that can maintain 70 degrees economically. Maybe this isn't feasible, but i'm interested if anyone has been able to do this.

Bro even if it was a 300 gallon tank indoors with pumps and heaters your already over $35 bucks a month, now putting this baby outside trying to get it to maintain 70 degrees with 20 ambient temperature, with this best insulation that’s still a dream @ $35 bucks a month

 

[coolcomfort]

Well good to know. I tried posting about the costs of filtration earlier, yet most said that part was relatively cheap. So what kind of heating costs would you expect with something like this?

 

[Oughtsix]

You can insulate the heck out of the sides and bottom of the tank then most of the heat will escape through the top (surface water). This is why they use insulated covers on hot tubs.

What part of Texas? North Texas? Where does the magical $35 target come from? What kind of stock will you be keeping? Texas summers can get awfully hot... what is the top tempature the stock you are keeping can handle and still be healthy? Will cooling be needed in the summer?

Electric resistance heat is electric resistance heat and it takes the same number of watts to raise the water one degree reguardless of the the particular electric resistance heater you use. To gain efficiency you will need to look at alternative heating methods like an electric heat pump, solar water heat, or a natural gas heater if you have natural gas available. A natural gas heater will probably be the lowest initial expense with the highest return on initial investment as far as energy cost saved. A heat pump will probably be more efficient than natural gas but with a much higher initial cost. Solar water heating panels will probably be the lowest ongoing heating cost... but you will probably run into problems with having the heat you need when you need it. The larger your tank the more heat storage the water in the tank will have which might help iron out day / night temperature cycles of a solar heat system.

 

[coolcomfort]

You can insulate the heck out of the sides and bottom of the tank then most of the heat will escape through the top (surface water). This is why they use insulated covers on hot tubs.

What part of Texas? North Texas? Where does the magical $35 target come from? What kind of stock will you be keeping? Texas summers can get awfully hot... what is the top tempature the stock you are keeping can handle and still be healthy? Will cooling be needed in the summer?

Electric resistance heat is electric resistance heat and it takes the same number of watts to raise the water one degree reguardless of the the particular electric resistance heater you use. To gain efficiency you will need to look at alternative heating methods like an electric heat pump, solar water heat, or a natural gas heater if you have natural gas available. A natural gas heater will probably be the lowest initial expense with the highest return on initial investment as far as energy cost saved. A heat pump will probably be more efficient than natural gas but with a much higher initial cost. Solar water heating panels will probably be the lowest ongoing heating cost... but you will probably run into problems with having the heat you need when you need it. The larger your tank the more heat storage the water in the tank will have which might help iron out day / night temperature cycles of a solar heat system.

I know it may seem like a crazy estimate. My response to that is a bit of an anecdote. I met a guy who owns a 2,700 gallon aquarium in the Maine area. He built a nice shed around his tank and I assumed he was using an AC unit to heat it since the costs were going to be enormous anyways. Since it's that big of an aquarium, I figured there was no way he could have used aquarium heaters. However, I since learned that he uses these 3 jbj 1000 watt heaters in the aquarium and that's all. He said it doesn't run him much per month either. I didn't get into the numbers, but it seemed like what he was telling me is that it's maybe ($70-$100) a month. He also said that he could have his heaters off and they would only lose 1-2 degrees a day. I figured a 300 gallon tank would scale down a lot more. I'm probably wrong. However, this is all purely speculative, and which is why I came to here to see if it was true.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I know it may seem like a crazy estimate. My response to that is a bit of an anecdote. I met a guy who owns a 2,700 gallon aquarium in the Maine area. He built a nice shed around his tank and I assumed he was using an AC unit to heat it since the costs were going to be enormous anyways. Since it's that big of an aquarium, I figured there was no way he could have used aquarium heaters. However, I since learned that he uses these 3 jbj 1000 watt heaters in the aquarium and that's all. He said it doesn't run him much per month either. I didn't get into the numbers, but it seemed like what he was telling me is that it's maybe ($70-$100) a month. He also said that he could have his heaters off and they would only lose 1-2 degrees a day. I figured a 300 gallon tank would scale down a lot more. I'm probably wrong. However, this is all purely speculative, and which is why I came to here to see if it was true.

With the right setup, it’s definitely possible. Think about outdoor hot tubs. Do you really think that people would buy them if they cost hundreds of extra dollars per month to operate in the winter? I think what you will find is that if you insulate the bottom, sides, and top of the tank, you will be able to maintain 70 rather easily. However, the cost to put that kind of setup together might be the main deterrent from following through with that idea.

 

[coolcomfort]

With the right setup, it’s definitely possible. Think about outdoor hot tubs. Do you really think that people would buy them if they cost hundreds of extra dollars per month to operate in the winter? I think what you will find is that if you insulate the bottom, sides, and top of the tank, you will be able to maintain 70 rather easily. However, the cost to put that kind of setup together might be the main deterrent from following through with that idea.

This was my exact thinking. However, I think if someone was a serious monsterfishkeeper, they would just consider making a shed for their tank. Then, insulate the shed a lot. But I still don't know, would people prefer aquatic heaters or regular AC units to heat their tanks?

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

This was my exact thinking. However, I think if someone was a serious monsterfishkeeper, they would just consider making a shed for their tank. Then, insulate the shed a lot. But I still don't know, would people prefer aquatic heaters or regular AC units to heat their tanks?

Most of the time I have heard that it’s more economical to heat the whole structure with a standard or window-type heat unit. If the structure is well enough insulated, then heating it up should be no issue.

 

[BIG FISH BOB]

I know it may seem like a crazy estimate. My response to that is a bit of an anecdote. I met a guy who owns a 2,700 gallon aquarium in the Maine area. He built a nice shed around his tank and I assumed he was using an AC unit to heat it since the costs were going to be enormous anyways. Since it's that big of an aquarium, I figured there was no way he could have used aquarium heaters. However, I since learned that he uses these 3 jbj 1000 watt heaters in the aquarium and that's all. He said it doesn't run him much per month either. I didn't get into the numbers, but it seemed like what he was telling me is that it's maybe ($70-$100) a month. He also said that he could have his heaters off and they would only lose 1-2 degrees a day. I figured a 300 gallon tank would scale down a lot more. I'm probably wrong. However, this is all purely speculative, and which is why I came to here to see if it was true.

We have a 3000 gallon pond in a shed and we only heat the shed with the aquarium heaters....3 JBJ 1000 watts. The water and the air temp are always 78.5....... if it gets REALLY cold for a week (10 degrees) the tempo may drop to 76. Good Luck with it.

 

[coolcomfort]

We have a 3000 gallon pond in a shed and we only heat the shed with the aquarium heaters....3 JBJ 1000 watts. The water and the air temp are always 78.5....... if it gets REALLY cold for a week (10 degrees) the tempo may drop to 76. Good Luck with it.

That is incredibly impressive. That is actually my end goal, to have a tank as large as that for a relatively low cost. Do you mind sharing your monthly electric bill for those heaters? That is what i'm mainly interested in. This will give me an idea if what i'm trying is feasible/worth it.