Need some advice on heating an aquarium in a garage?

[BrockJT]

Hi everyone, I have a 75 gallon tank with 8 discus currently running in my garage. I'm just wondering what the best heating solution would be to get a steady 84-86 degree temperature? As of right now I have 3 250 watt stealth pro heaters running and the temperature is good, but it looks really ugly. I live in Vancouver Canada and the temperature of my garage drops down to around 5 degrees Celsius. What would be a good heating solution that does not look to obtrusive?

Thank You,
Brock

[cooksa]

Hydor inline heaters. That is, if you have a canister filter. I have 3 running on two tanks. One I've had for two years (give or take a few months) with no issues. Although, I'm not sure how well they'd do in a cold garage. If your Stealth Pros are holding up, I can't see why two Hydors wouldn't be able to.

[alan j t]

insulate the outside tank? i guess

[BrockJT]

Sorry I should have been more specific I do not have a canister filter it is a HOB. How would I go about insulating the tank? Also would 2 300 watt jagers get the job done or maybe 2 300 watt finnex titanium heaters with a controller? the 3 heaters in there now total 750 watts. I wouldn't mind running 2 heaters but 3 just looks bad in my opinion.

[David Rose]

I have a similar situation having a 125G in my four season room. The temp drops to about 45 degrees at most and I found that putting two 500 watt titanium heaters with external controllers worked best for me to keep up when the small wattage heaters didn't. I had mine vertically placed about 3" above the back bottom equally spaced and with good water movement to circulate. If need be add an air stone or two.

I used Finnex brand and have been pretty pleased with them as long as you don't expose them to air during water changes. Big mistake and costly. Be sure to unplug or don't drain the water past just above the level of their location.

PS: I don't think 300W will keep up at those temps. It didn't for me.

[uberdave]

I personally had that experience. I ran a 220g in my garrage here in toronto and I only had 2 250 watt with a room heater and it kept the temp at 85 or so. you NEED to insulate your tank else your heater will just always be on and eventually burn out fast. I had a shed insulated with 8.0 R insulation foam around the tank. Of course, heating bills sky rocketed and I would not do it again. Sold my 220g and my shed, to me, the fact is I didn't have room in my house and I wouldn't do that again. If you don't have room, you don't have room.

To answer your question though, run the heaters through a sump and you dont have that look.

[BrockJT]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses, my tank is only 75g what options do you think would work best for my situation? (2) 300 watt finnex titanium heaters with a digital controller or (1) 300 watt + (1) 500 watt totaling 800 watt (that's the max wattage allowed for the controller). As of right now the 3 250 watt (750 watt total) stealth pro heaters are holding the tank temperature at 86 rather easily, but 82-84 would be fine as well.

Thanks Again,
Brock

[BrockJT]

Also I cannot run a sump, because the tank sits on the bottom part of a double stand and there is no place to conceal it.

[West1]

Personally Titanium is the way to go given the stries Ive heard about Heaters blowing up. I have a Titanium w/controler and im loving it (but to each their own)
G/L

[jcahow]

If anyone else is trying to insulate tanks in the future here is what I use and it has worked out really well as I have some tanks in the basement where it can get quite cool in winter and from air conditioning in the summer.

I use Super Tuff-R Rigid Foam Insulation from Home Depot. It comes in 4' by 8' sheets in two thicknesses (1/2" R3.5 - $10 and 1" R7.0 - $15). It has a silver reflective side (for towards tank) and a light blue paper backside. Home Depot always cuts it in half for free making the 24" pieces much easier to carry inside my vehicle and giving me two nice clean edges to start with.

You can cut it with a (long) razor blade but personally I use a DeWalt battery powered trim saw (or table saw) with a fine blade and it cuts like butter with a nice square smooth edge.

My first try was with the 1/2" stock but I have switched now to the 1" as I find it easier to work with, stiffer, and with and with double the insulation R value.

I cut one big piece and fit and caulk it into the stand under the tank (where it will not be seen). If you have a table top stand it can be placed directly under the tank as well (just leave 1/2" sitcking out). I then cut the two end pieces and one long back piece (2" wider so it overlap the sides) so they fit perfectly into the spaces between the top and bottom frames of the tank. I then cover the top and side edges of the foam with Wide blue masking tape folded over and then tilting it from the bottom tank edge push it up against the tank at the top using a wide putty knive to ease it under the frame a little as a time.

It you do a nice job cutting the Rigid Foam it will fit very tight and the 1/8" lip on the tank frames will hold it on place all by itself. If your pieces are a bit small or you want extra strength then you can tape the back corner seams and wrap a piece of tape around around the front edge for 1/2" (just covering the glass seam and caulking anyways).

I then cut some extra pieces to lay on the top and tape on the front of the tank which I sometimes use at night on really cold days (it can get to minus 30 F here in winter).

Personally I use industrial strength Mag-Clips to hold all my filter intakes and spray bars which causes a problem because the 1" insulating foam is too wide for them to work (barely held on the 1/2" foam). I get around this by making paper templates and then using a 1" hole saw to drill nice clean holes through the foam in the correct positions. This also keeps the magnets from shifting in the tank because their outside position cannot move (comes in handy with big Cichlids). The drilling works better if you place a hard surface on one or both sides of the foam as you drill so it does not break out. I use left over 1/8" clear plexi-glass which allows me to see the template marking on the foam before I drill.

Since I use a continuous paper background on three sides of the tanks anyways I do not see the silver reflective side of the foam from the front of the tank. I also use SeaView background mounting oil and the foam insulation keeps it tight up again the glass keeping it from curling up at the edges.

It took awhile to figure out the best way to cut and and drill this rigid foam but I am very happy on how it turned out (can be spray painted as well) and it does a great job on insulating the tanks. This Super Tuff-R foam in pretty impervious to most liquids, including water (see detailed specifications).

I also have a nifty Excel Aquarium Heat Loss Calculator I found on a NZ fish forum. I modified it for dimensions in inches and for use with Super Tuff-R foam. It tells you how much tank heat is being lost, how big a heater you need, and what the heating cost per month is to run based on your electrical rate for a specified high/low room temperature.

Due to the pathetic upload and posting limits on this forum I cannot seem to upload any pictures of my insulated tanks or post links to the products I mentioned, sorry.............