Heating a fish room

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
My 180 and 90 gallon is down in the basement with my wood stove. I have electric heat and don't use it. The stove runs 24 hours a day. Keeps my tanks 80-84 degrees. I run no heaters at all. The stove is on the opposite side of the tank basically right across from it. I have no issues except the water level drops fast from evaporation. Nice thing is I don't have to run a dehumidifier in the winter and with the 180, and the 90 gallon, my house isn't that dry from burning wood. In the winter. Plus it's cheaper then the electric heat and cheaper then oil heat.


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I have heard of people using hot water heaters as little boilers to add another zone on forced hot water systems. I'm not sure how efficient it is.
 
thanks for all the input. This room will be finished for the fish tanks. It will be well insulated.

Also what are people doing for humidity control?
 
With my current number of tanks running I'm at just under seven hundred gallons of water.I do have window vents that I keep open this time of year and the basement door to the main floor is usually kept open.I'm assuming that those factors provide enough air circulation to keep any humidity at bay.
 
I run a dehumidifier.
 
A dehumidifier will help control the humidity and add a little heat.

I think vent-less gas or electric supplemental heat would be the way to go, either will be more efficient than heating tanks.
 
Charney said:
thanks for all the input. This room will be finished for the fish tanks. It will be well insulated.

Also what are people doing for humidity control?
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Hi, congratulations on the new house with a fish room!!!
I read through this thread and can't believe nobody pointed you towards the easiest way to help heat a fish room... You need to start with a dehumidifier and then you can probably stop looking for a heat source after that... I'ts also a necessity to keep it from raining in there.

I have about 3k worth of freshwater in the basement with almost 1k having no covers at all... I run a LG 65pt dehumidifier and it keeps the room around 80 all winter long. It also keeps the humidity well under control. I also ripped out all my insulation before I setup the fishroom cause I didn't want to finish the ceiling and didn't want the pink stuff to fall in any of my tank's. So your basement will be more efficient if your going to insulate it. The key is to put it in a very open part of the room so it circulates well. I also dump mine three times a day manually instead of using the hose cause I think it collects more... At first I had it stuffed off to the side and ran the hose to a drain, it only worked 30 percent as good as the way I have it set up now.

The tank's hold out at a great temp all winter, I use fx-5's and emp 400 hobs. The lower smaller tanks get a little cool cause they are close to the ground, but those impellers put out constant heat also. They never drop below 74ish. All the tank's that dont sit on the floor stay at like 78 - 84 in the winter. I have been running this LG dehumidifier for many years and it works great. In the summer though it's to hot. I open the door and put a fan blowing in the door 24/7 to keep the humidity flowing out and the room from getting to hot. If I had windows in the basement I could just open them in the summer.
 
I meant I unplugged my dehumidifier and added fans this summer. Every year is a little bit different, and you have those nasty couple of spring and fall weeks where it sucks. But a dehumidifier should be your first and maybe your last look for a source of heat...

Good luck.
 
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