I've been thinking about this winter already. Paranoid that I will potentially be paying $200 a month again to power a larger sized space heater to keep the aquariums warm, I've been exploring other options. Buying 30+ tank heaters is not an option, due to to a lack of available electrical amperage room on the two circuits the fish room is on.

So, I think it was Pam that came over for a visit several months ago and she was commenting on my pseudo wall that I have between the garage and the fish room, which basically consists of a 2x4 studded wall with plastic sheeting on both sides. She suggested pumping air from the fish room into the void between the studs to add an insulating barrier of warm air between the cold garage and the warm fish room. I thought, hey, that's a great idea. I will probably end up just insulating the wall and putting up sheet rock though.

However, today my son and I were down in the fish room and that suggestion from Pam came back into play. I thought, what if I can pump warm air through my air pump down into the sponges, and thus into the tanks? How would that do in keeping the tank water a little warmer?

Typically, in the winter, the tanks on the very bottom rack got to be around 65F, and the middle tanks about 70, and the top tanks about 72; which is not conducive at all to keeping tropical fish. Oh, and this was at a monthly electric expense of $200 - $250. Without the space heater, the temps were about 5-10 degrees lower on a cold day.

So now to the concept. I'm thinking about putting a space heater blowing warm air into a ventilated fire proof box which houses the air pump supplying the air into the tanks. Something like this:



The box will have to be fireproof, so probably metal, with plenty of ventilation, but not so much that it lets all the warm air out. The other thing is protecting the air pump from the direct heated air, but still allowing the intake to suck in warm air. I'll also have to check with the manufacturer of my air pump to make sure it can operate in air temps that may be quite high.

To experiment, I'm going to use an old air pump that doesn't work too well, an eight output eco-plus air pump with a small space heater. To see how this thing works, I'll hook up varying lengths of tubing to the four outputs on the air pump which will pump into four separate shoe box containers with water in them.

I'll then use an infrared digital thermometer, like the one pictured below, to measure the water temperature in the water after the thing's been running for varying amounts of time. I'll also have a "control" shoe box with water in it sitting on the floor to give me an idea with the temperature of the water without any influence from the heated air.



I'll probably start with airline tube lengths of 2 feet, 6 feet, 12 feet, and 24 feet. That is about the lengths of the various hookups from the air pump now to the sponges in my current setup. Then I'll measure the water after the deal's been running and see what the effects are.

Looking for suggestions and ideas or maybe I'm just blowing hot air down an avenue that I won't succeed at. I'm no engineer, so I do want to make sure that I don't have any glaring safety concerns.

What about some type of radiant heat option such as coils under the tanks?

www.thermosoft.com/radiant-floor-heat/

I always though about, why do we heat the air within our homes? Why not heat just the objects needed to be warmed?


www.spaceray.com/poultry_and_pig/poultry...heaters-brooders.php


www.infraredheaters.com/petwarm.htm



www.greenhousemegastore.com/Radiant-Heaters/products/1204/

I have found that some of my pumps actually heat up the air anyway. So, they have been helping warm the tanks all along. I think it's a great idea to warm the air that is flowing into the tanks. You do want to make sure the ambient room temp doesn't undo any of that by having a cool basement. I think it's a pretty good idea.

Thanks for looking into those options! Kind of glanced at them, and didn't find much I could really use as an alternative, but did get me thinking about not using a space heater in the "box", but rather an infared lamp heating some alumninum fins (like on an air conditioner).

oppleco wrote:

This one is a viable option, if you had the capital to buy it; plus you have to have a floor on top of it (ceramic or wood/laminate). Would cost a lot to install.


Would be nice if I had propane at the house! I bet these things can really warm the place up!



At 60 watts each, for each tank, this is probably out of the question. I think it would put out plenty of heat for sure.



This would probably be able to heat the entire room, but at a rating of 1.5kW would kinda defeat the purpose. And that's the smallest model.

Brian, just trying to think outside the box and give you some brain ammunition.......

Radiant heat , solar heat, gas, wood are all going to be semi expensive to convert too...Long term thinking is what and when is your ROI?

The only solution I can think of with the radiant heat , solar or whatever energy source is used . That may be inexpensive to run long term is to convert a fish room to a central sump or central water reservoir.. Where a main storage tank's water is heated and then the heated water is ciculated throughout your fish room. Either directly or indirectly.

Sump heat idea ? see link

www.poolsupplies.com/heating/peter-palms-solar-heating.asp

Those are my random thoughts for a monday

I am thinking if I can raise the water temp just a couple of degrees this would be somewhat of a success. Mocking up the design of the steel box right now. My little brother likes to weld, so I'll have him build the box and see what we can come up with. My step dad is in the AC / water cooling business and has those alumninum fins. The fins will go right in front of the heating element; which ever I chose. The heating element will heat the air, as well as the fins which will give the gadget the ability to hold a warmer temperature while the heating element is taking a break.

www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?t=17190...ghlight=cheaper+heat

^ nuff said.

Oh man. That's a great setup. It looks like he is on a central filtration system though; as he's running the warming coils into a sump. I don't have a central system. Thanks for the link.

I would try placing the pump on the hot water heater or furnace just to see if that made a difference and rather than running the risks that come with a space heater. Simple and easy.

Jack

Well, this thing is just not going to work. I've tested it out several different ways, with very little success in raising water temps in little shoe boxes. I think I'll just have to spend a little more money on insulating the walls of the basement and the tanks themselves.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Wish I could do the water heater deal, I've seen several plans for that, but all of them on a central filtration system.

Proper insulation and a space heater is the best solution.
A blower will create quite a bit of heat, but will raise you electric bill. I know a cheap start up way of heating a fish room, but your gas bill will go up. It is using a ventless gas heater, but you need a good source of ventilation as the ventless heaters have a very sensitive oxygen sensor and they will shut off. I have a cheap ventless heater if you want to try it out.
Walter

Just remember that all insulation bought before dec 31 can be claimed on your taxes next year!!! let the feds pay for 20% of the cost of the insulation

Dont loose your receipt of course.

I have been re-reading this post and somewhere I think I remember that they sell a unit that recirculates water to your hot water tank so that you have hot water at the far end of the house. Why couldn't this be incorporated into your fish room. I have found that a lot of fish can take temperatures as low as 60 and not suffer. They seem to just kind of hibernate.
Walter

Brian, What if you had metal pipe coiled in each tank, might have to be stainless. All the coils would be connected together. Then go into a storage container that is heated. You would then pump water through all of the coils. Testing would have to be done on how much pipe would have to be in each tank and what rate of flow would work best.

On top of this I would add insulation around each tank if possible as well as the top.

Good idea. I'm just not sure I want to run pipe through every tank, we're talking almost 40 tanks here. Plus, our water heater struggles to keep up with my wife, let alone me!

I did get my hands on one of those used thermal heaters for free that supposedly heat over 1,000 sq feet for "pennies" a day. I'm going to plug it in this weekend and see just how many "pennies" per day that is.

I think I will insulate the bottoms of the tanks. Will take some experimentation. The tops will fit pretty tight, with a corner notched out for the airline going to the filter. I think that will help a lot as well.