I have 19 tanks and battling the cold and the electric bill. What do you think about making a system or to and heating the sump ?? Any suggestions are appreciated
Making a system
- Thread starter Southjerseycichlidz
- Start date
If all the tanks are in 1 room, it may be more economical to heat the room instead of each tank. If you can keep the the room at a desired temp, say 78F, then you won't even need heaters for any of the tanks.
Tried that won't work tanks are in my basement fully insulated just can't get it to hold a constant temp
That's a shame. I heat my house instead of the tanks. I enjoy not having to mess with heaters. Although it's not as cold here as it is up north.
Yea man it sucks but I'm thinking about the system of getting a few huge tanks and dividing them for different projects
This doesn't make sense to me. A basement should hold a temp better than other parts of the house since it's underground. In other words, there should be less of a temperature swing. Even if there is a swing in the ambient temperature, as long as it stays above 70 it will be fine for most tropical fish. Plus, water tends not to swing temp as quickly as the ambient temp, between the ambient heating and the tank heaters your fish will be fine. With the tank heaters not coming on so frequently you should save money in terms of that aspect, but of course this depends what it actually cost to heat this space.
A system could help, it also means a larger, more stable system overall (very beneficial). It can be a lot of work and in the end may end up costing more than you would be comfortable spending just to save a little on the electric for heaters.
I don't beileve a system will help much, if at all. You're still trying to heat X amount of water via X amount of electricity. If you can't heat the room then the only other easy and practical option is to insulate the tanks. This is what I have do to my 180 in my unheated, uninsulated basement. Its not pretty, but its not a show tank or a living space so its not a big deal for me. I just remove the front panel when I want to view/feed them
Not related to making a sysem but i looked into solar power for those same reasons. Most of the companies that i got quotes from were from NJ. Almost signed the contract but we decided to sell.
I feel your pain.
My basement averaged about 50'F in winter, so all tanks had 3" styrofoam panels on the back, bottom and sides, and sumps sometimes also had the front covered. Most of my heaters were placed in sumps and any PVC was wrapped in flexible insulation.
My goal was to keep any average tropical tank water temp at @70'F Jan, Feb and Mar, and my heat, light, and pumpage bill for just the fishroom averaged about $300 per month, in summer when I unplugged heaters, the bill was less than half.
My basement averaged about 50'F in winter, so all tanks had 3" styrofoam panels on the back, bottom and sides, and sumps sometimes also had the front covered. Most of my heaters were placed in sumps and any PVC was wrapped in flexible insulation.
My goal was to keep any average tropical tank water temp at @70'F Jan, Feb and Mar, and my heat, light, and pumpage bill for just the fishroom averaged about $300 per month, in summer when I unplugged heaters, the bill was less than half.