heating fishroom
- Thread starter dory
- Start date
I have a two car garage which I have converted into a 13' x 20' fishroom... leaving the front 9' x 20' section still as a 'garage' (though far to small to park a car). The fishroom has two two exterriro walls, one interror and one wall to the garage (regarding heat loss it is half way between an interrior and an exterrior wall). There is also a room above the garage which helps hold in a lot of heat (and this room stays warmer do to the fishroom).
I have around 1,000 gal of tanks in the fishroom with no heaters in any of the tanks. I have also found that the tanks stay about 2~3*F / 1* C cooler than I would expect based on the room's air temp. Which is in line with, but to a much lesser degree than your 5~6*C cooler.
How well insulated are the walls in your fishroom? If an exterrior wall is cold it may be sucking heat from the tanks. Or if there are any drafts blowing on the tanks this will obviously cause heat loss as well. The only other cause that comes to mind is if the overnight temp is dropping and you are not factoring that into your "average room temp".
I have around 1,000 gal of tanks in the fishroom with no heaters in any of the tanks. I have also found that the tanks stay about 2~3*F / 1* C cooler than I would expect based on the room's air temp. Which is in line with, but to a much lesser degree than your 5~6*C cooler.
How well insulated are the walls in your fishroom? If an exterrior wall is cold it may be sucking heat from the tanks. Or if there are any drafts blowing on the tanks this will obviously cause heat loss as well. The only other cause that comes to mind is if the overnight temp is dropping and you are not factoring that into your "average room temp".
this will be interesting. good question.
Personally, I think its better to have the water in the tank directly heated. But I think we can expand the scope of discussion in this thread and talk about the vice versa as well ..... meaning if cooling the entire fish room in summer can reduce water temp.
Personally, I think its better to have the water in the tank directly heated. But I think we can expand the scope of discussion in this thread and talk about the vice versa as well ..... meaning if cooling the entire fish room in summer can reduce water temp.
Pm me if you need any help on the installation aspect of this.dory;2573275; said:
You will need a heater zone panel an extra thermostat it wont be easy. But Ive done this for a living for my whole life so any questions feel free to ask.
That's really cool of you to offer to help the OP Tcarswell, but I hope you guys have the conversation publicly so the rest of us can learn from your experience as well 
Sounds good! Im gonna be gone for about three days up north but ill do what I can.
My first question would be do you have central heating and or cooling ?
If so then this would be a viable option to heat your aquariums.
If you use electrical heaters it would be farrr more efficient to simply heat the tanks with electric heaters.
My first question would be do you have central heating and or cooling ?
If so then this would be a viable option to heat your aquariums.
If you use electrical heaters it would be farrr more efficient to simply heat the tanks with electric heaters.
Also you would only need to heat the room the temperature neccesary for the fish. The thing is it takes the water a while longer to catch up to room temperature or in other words the water temperature fluctuates slowly and you just need to keep the temperature consistent and the tank will catch up.
I'll do my best to stay on topic of the Original Poster's fishroom or fishrooms in general...
The OP and I have both found that even though the average ambient temperature of the fishroom is (for example) 80*F, the aquarium water is cooler, with the OP's being much cooler than mine. I mentioned a few reasons I could think of for this (cold wall behind the tanks, draft on the tanks), but please add to this list if you have any ideas. Especially as I've already reviewed my ideas and they are not the cause.
I understand what you're saying about the water heating up slower than the air when using a heat source in the air and not the water, but in my case the fishroom hasn't been below 78* (including overnight) since April and the daily average has been has been above 80*F as well (overnight included in average). If the same is not true for the OP, then we may have just discovered his/her problem. The OP said his/her fishroom was heated to about 78*F but the water was around 68*F (mine water is consistently 78*F)
The only heat source I am using at this point is a large dehumidifier. I know they use a lot of power but since it serves a dual purpose (dehumidifying & heating), I felt it is worth the expense. I suggest considering it for anyone else with a fishroom. The dehumidifier is only used in the cold season when heat is needed.
My fishroom is still new (bought the house in April) and I still plan to add hardwired electrical and heating/cooling. I know insulation is critical and I'm pleased with my insulation job, I can only assume the OP considered this as well (if not...) So any general suggestions you have I would love to hear. Again, since this is Dory's thread I want suggestions to be valuable to him/her as well as anyone else following.
I hope you have fun up North, stay safe.
The OP and I have both found that even though the average ambient temperature of the fishroom is (for example) 80*F, the aquarium water is cooler, with the OP's being much cooler than mine. I mentioned a few reasons I could think of for this (cold wall behind the tanks, draft on the tanks), but please add to this list if you have any ideas. Especially as I've already reviewed my ideas and they are not the cause.
I understand what you're saying about the water heating up slower than the air when using a heat source in the air and not the water, but in my case the fishroom hasn't been below 78* (including overnight) since April and the daily average has been has been above 80*F as well (overnight included in average). If the same is not true for the OP, then we may have just discovered his/her problem. The OP said his/her fishroom was heated to about 78*F but the water was around 68*F (mine water is consistently 78*F)
The only heat source I am using at this point is a large dehumidifier. I know they use a lot of power but since it serves a dual purpose (dehumidifying & heating), I felt it is worth the expense. I suggest considering it for anyone else with a fishroom. The dehumidifier is only used in the cold season when heat is needed.
My fishroom is still new (bought the house in April) and I still plan to add hardwired electrical and heating/cooling. I know insulation is critical and I'm pleased with my insulation job, I can only assume the OP considered this as well (if not...) So any general suggestions you have I would love to hear. Again, since this is Dory's thread I want suggestions to be valuable to him/her as well as anyone else following.
I hope you have fun up North, stay safe.
I think your spot on its possible theres a draft coming up. One trick is trying to locate the tank as far from an exterior wall as possible and use thermometers spread around the room. Its easy to get a 80 degree measurement if the suns shining through the window on your thermometer Id say get a heater with a thermostat and leave it at 78
Id say get a heater with a thermostat and leave it at 78