Garage as Fishroom, Heating Issues

[kniesh]

Hi, the background to this is that in 6 weeks I will be moving to a much bigger house. This house has a detatched double garage that I will be using as a fishroom. At the moment I have around 5 Tanks set up, ranging from a small 2ft cubed planted, to a 200 Gallon filled with Bichirs, Knifefish etc, these fish are up to nearly 2ft now, and will be going in an upgrade very soon.

Anyway, my question is, the house we are moving to isn't really ideal for me to be putting a load of fish tanks in (plus I promised the wife I wouldn't). My dad is coming up not long after we move hopefully and we will be insulating the garage and boarding it so it will be fine then. But in the short term, if I put some sort of external heater in there and have more heaters in the tanks will this be ok? I know it's not ideal but given we can't really touch the garage until we complete it seems to be my only option at the minute? Any ideas, or personal experiences much welcome as I've had some of my monsters for about 5 years so really don't want anything to go wrong

Thanks, Vinny

 

[xraycer]

After a good insulation, buy a used pellet, coal, or wood stove. These stoves will easily heat a small space to the point that tank heaters will barely kick on.

 

[kniesh]

I had never thought of that, that actually sounds like a very good idea. Have you done that yourself?

 

[xraycer]

I had never thought of that, that actually sounds like a very good idea. Have you done that yourself?

I use a pellet stove as my main heating source for my 2500 square foot home, and I live in snow country

 

[kniesh]

I use a pellet stove as my main heating source for my 2500 square foot home, and I live in snow country

Ha, seems good enough for me, this is only 22ft by 20. Pretty sure in the second living room there's already a coal stove too which I can probably use until we get another. May be a fake one though, cant remember properly

 

[BrookKeeper]

...the house we are moving to isn't really ideal for me to be putting a load of fish tanks in (plus I promised the wife I wouldn't)...

First mistake in proper fish keeping... promising the wife anything! lol...

The stove is a good idea, but you will probably need a backup as they require attention daily (or many times a day, depending on the size and type) and you could potentially lose your entire stock if anything unexpected keeps you away from the house for a day or two during cold weather. An electric space heater on a thermostat would be expensive to run as the primary, but it would be cheap insurance...

Good luck, post pictures to this thread once you are settled!

 

[kniesh]

Will do thanks, my initial plan was to just run a couple of external electric heaters with thermostats until I get it insulated, then hopefully run it off the internal heaters naturally heating the room, with one of these electric heaters used as back up when needed

 

[BrookKeeper]

Will do thanks, my initial plan was to just run a couple of external electric heaters with thermostats until I get it insulated, then hopefully run it off the internal heaters naturally heating the room, with one of these electric heaters used as back up when needed

I guess it all depends on how efficiently it is insulated... you won't know until you try it, but I would definitely have a backup plan for the internal heaters!

 

[kniesh]

Thanks for the response, just wanted to make sure an uninsulated Garage being heated by internal heaters in tanks and , an external heater wasn't gonna kill them short term, looks like not

 

[Drstrangelove]

Make sure that you install a carbon monoxide detector and keep it operating. Even if you have the gasses being vented, anything unforeseen like a bird's nest, leaves, etc. could lead to tragic results in a small room. And explain to your family what to do and not do.

One can't be too careful when using a carbon-based fuel in what might become a completely closed room.

I would lean towards a thorough insulation job plus an electric heater, but that's me.