Advice?

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Nood1es

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 10, 2005
5
0
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40
WI
Hey guys, long time member. Just been reading info mainly, not much posting. My question is, I live in WI and it gets cold in the winter seasons and hot in the summer months. We remodeled our house and we don't have room for our 150ish tank anymore INSIDE the house. But our garage is being finished now, and there will be room. It's insulated and such, so..is there any type of way to have my tank outside? Is there a type of heater or something that will prevent it from freezing? And is there a type of water cooler to keep the tank cool in the summer heat? I know it's a big stretch but i've never come across this..so why not ask and see if I can get a straight forward answer.:confused: Thanks guy!

Oh sorry, the fishes I had was a jardini housed by himself because he would kill everything that was with him. He's since relocated to a new home. And i'd like to try and keep a new jardini if possible..
 
there is a device that you can use and what you do is that you put the heater inside of this sump kind of thing and i think its called life guard fire guard idk but you put ur heater in the sump and as the water is going through the sump it is heated with saves money and it heats it up quicker. also for the summer you should get a good temp reader. if it gets to hot put ice in the sump and shut off the heater. i heard about this from my local fish store and the owner is an expert. hope this works out for you. :) :)
 
if you jardini eats any other fish then i would just leave it alone unless you can get a big jardini
 
Apart from the temp fluctuations you will deal with, algea is also going to wreak havoc in the summer months unless you use a UV sterilizer.
My advice on an outside tank is to focus more on insulating the tank from cold and providing a reliable heat source. A sump set-up with the heaters in the return can be an efficient way to heat the tank. The sump can be insulated as well. I have heard of guys useing igloo ice chests with a pump for circulating the water from the tank through the chest housing the heaters. Youre going to lose a LOT of heat just from the tank radiating the heat from ALL sides. Build insulating panels to encircle the tank like a giant ice chest.
Keeping the tank cool in summer can be as simple as a fan across the water surface. However, jardini will jump out if you have the tops off the tank, so either make a screen cover or, again, use a sump. You will be surprised at the evaporation rate and will likely need to add water daily.
I love outside tanks and am builing a 360g square glass one. I am going with a sump set-up and will probably only keep cold water fish in it. It doesnt get WI. cold here in SoCal though, but I will still have the cooling and algea issues to deal with!!
Thats my .02, good luck!
 
thanks guys for the advice..the tank now is bare, because we had to move it out of the house during remodeling and it's just sitting in the garage and looking empty. :(

So basically a sump with an internal heater in during the winters and have the sides wrapped up for heat insulation? And our summers get 100+ and being in the garage..would just adding a fan be ok? There isn't some sort of ac sort of water cooler available?
 
yeah, the 6 footers can be a pain to fit in place. I sacrificed what should have been a nice couch in order to house mine.

as far as the temperatures are concerned. you can get something called a chiller to cool the tank down. these are used for reeftanks with very hot metal halide lighting but they work well.

for the winter months, insulate as best you can with several good quality heaters in the sump.

normally, for indoors, 3w per gallon is fine, but you might want to go up to 5w per gallon I would think.
 
cool thanks man..gonna try heading to local fish store and see what they charge and see if they mind helping me set this thing up.

What sumps would you recommend? I'll research, don't want to be spoon fed stuff and i know its annoying. But a good brand sump? And doubles pumps or just single sufficient?
 
12 Volt Man;4059105; said:
yeah, the 6 footers can be a pain to fit in place. I sacrificed what should have been a nice couch in order to house mine.

as far as the temperatures are concerned. you can get something called a chiller to cool the tank down. these are used for reeftanks with very hot metal halide lighting but they work well.

for the winter months, insulate as best you can with several good quality heaters in the sump.

normally, for indoors, 3w per gallon is fine, but you might want to go up to 5w per gallon I would think.
Click to expand...
Hmm i always thought 5w per gallon
 
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