In Floor Heating For Tanks
- Thread starter dean9922
- Start date
It was a valid question. Who knows , someone might come up with an interesting alternative. Innovation starts with asking "why not" .
i've put single cable under-tile heating in my fish/summer house, laid directly onto the floor screed and then tiled on top. ply tank will sit directly on it, i'm still going to heat the tank and also the room but working on the heat rises theory i think it will help a bit. whatever, it feels nice under foot 
I heat my 500 gal reef system with hot water running through a coil in my sump. I'll try to post a link to where I got the idea. It is a really slick idea and works great. I used to run 1200+ watts of electric heaters and could not hold 78.5 degrees.
http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/do-yourself/59917-alternate-heat-sources.html
http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/do-yourself/59917-alternate-heat-sources.html
Putting the heating element/source outside of the tank is always going to be less efficient (electricity usage) than if the heat source is submerged, because not all the heat from the external source will actually heat the water. It would be like putting a bagel on top of a toaster and expecting it to toast faster than if you put the bagel in the toaster.
To reduce the cost in a friends fish room we installed a small down draft furnace in the basement. His gas bill went up $20 a month in the winter, with no change in the summer. He has roughly 75 tanks in the room and they stay roughly 77°F. His gas bill went up, but his electric was cut in half when he pulled all the heaters. I think he saved roughly $80 a month in the winter.
His fish room was in the basement, so with his basement being warmer the main furnace ran less with the rising heat.
This only makes sense if you have a large fish room or a large amount of gallons to heat.
If you are doing a large central system maybe this will work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wl5cUObm4
I don't know how efficient it is, but the guy says it works.
His fish room was in the basement, so with his basement being warmer the main furnace ran less with the rising heat.
This only makes sense if you have a large fish room or a large amount of gallons to heat.
If you are doing a large central system maybe this will work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wl5cUObm4
I don't know how efficient it is, but the guy says it works.
