Fish Room Heaters.. NEED ADVICE

[Wet Sleeves]

Im setting up my new fish room which will be in my basement. It stays cool down there and need to decide on heaters for my tanks. Ive been reading horror stories on a LOT of brands and I need advice from you guys on which brands you prefer and why. Most of the new heaters will be for 40 breeders and larger aquariums. Any help is appreciated thanks guys & gals

 

[FishEggs]

If possible it would be better to heat the room and not the tanks.

 

[cabinetmkr39]

Buy the best heaters you can afford. Eheim formerly Jager Heaters JMO

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Buy the best heaters you can afford. Eheim formerly Jager Heaters JMO

I was actually ready to purchase a bunch of them but read several bad reviews about them.

 

[Carolineep]

Honestly I believe it is cheaper to heat the room. I am trying to phase my heatersj out.
If you decide to use heaters set them on the lowest setting you can to keep your fish comfy.
Dont risk used heaters if you can avoid them.

 

[Leffler817]

Heat the fish room if you can. It's way safer and cost effective than in-tank heaters.

That being said, I use heater for the few tanks that I have and I will only use 3 brands: Aqueon glass not the plastic PRO model, Fluval M-the silver coated model, and Cobalt Neo-Therm. The Cobalt is pretty expensive and I only have one. The Aqueon and Fluval M are the only two heaters that I have yet to have a problem with. Also as a precaution, I replace my heaters every two years just out of fear of what may happen.

 

[Becca]

If everything in your fish room is tolerant of a similar temperature range, use a space heater (I hear convection style work well) to heat the room.

I have my fishroom tanks in a utility room where the HVAC is and water heater are housed, so even in the winter it stays in the mid 60's-low 70's. A lot of my breeding fish will stop spawning when it gets cooler, but they fare well overall. I use heaters in a few tanks where fish are less tolerant, but don't heat the room because I mostly keep shrimp and temperate fishes down there. I love Eheim Jaegers for quality and simplicity of use, that said, I've had some malfunction as they age. If you're going to heat tanks, put thermometers in them and keep an eye on those. Not al thermometers are accurate, but you'll be able to observe if the red is higher than usual. I particularly like the thermometers that mount inside the tank via magnets outside the tank. They're easy to use and easy to move.

 

[FishEggs]

I agree with Leffler about the Aqueon Pro heaters. I have a 50% failure rate on those. I got them due to them being black and blending into the dark background but with 2 out of 4 failing it's not worth it. I like the titanium heaters with the controller on the outside of the tank and a separate thermo probe in the tank. The problem with them is the cord isn't long enough on big tanks.

 

[Becca]

I agree with Leffler about the Aqueon Pro heaters. I have a 50% failure rate on those. I got them due to them being black and blending into the dark background but with 2 out of 4 failing it's not worth it. I like the titanium heaters with the controller on the outside of the tank and a separate thermo probe in the tank. The problem with them is the cord isn't long enough on big tanks.

I might have to give those a try. I like the idea of not having to get my hands wet to adjust the temperature.

 

[mchambers]

My fish room only gets down to about 68F in winter, so I only heat a few tanks. In my biggest tank, I use a Cobalt Neo-Therm, which I like. Having said that, I've had two Neo-Therms blow up on me. Cobalt has stood behind its products, however. Cobalt says the problems related to a manufacturing defect that has been cured. On another tank, I use a Jagr on a controller. It is nice not having to get wet to adjust the temperature.

 

[JLW]

When you start having more than 5-6 tanks, the cost of heating them with electric heaters starts adding up. Think about it, you'll be running on the 40s, what, 200WT heaters? A 200WT heater pulls 1.67 Amps. If you have a 15-amp circuit 15 amp circuit, and you have nothing but heaters plugged in, if nine 200-watt heaters are on at once... POP.

And, if you have lights, filters, air pump, etc. on that same circuit, it's going to be significantly south of nine....

For heating a basement space, electric space heaters are certainly one option to go. You can buy a plug-in thermostat that will control it, too, and save significantly on electricity. This should also be plugged in on a separate circuit -- some of them pull 5 A or more (some a lot more). If you have gas heat, you can also look into having a gas line put in for a gas powered space heater. Its expensive up front -- but you'll probably save over a single winter on costs alone. I have friends who has a cozy portable gas fireplace in their fishroom -- it's hooked to the gas line for the house, but it's just one of those drop in fireplaces. Its also thermostatically controlled, and works well.

My current project is to convert all of my tanks to a flow through system, at which point I'll be adding a thermostatically controlled tankless hot water heater to the system. I'll let you know how that works out....

The biggest place you can add up some savings though is in insulation. Go to Home Depot and buy some of those big, thick styrofoam sheets and cover your walls with them. You're setting up, still, so do it NOW before winter sets in. For $300-400, you can add significant savings here.

Remember that it isn't temperature that bothers fish, even tropical fish, it's temperature CHANGE. Insulation is going to fix your daily roll.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

If possible it would be better to heat the room and not the tanks.

Im not sure that would work

When you start having more than 5-6 tanks, the cost of heating them with electric heaters starts adding up. Think about it, you'll be running on the 40s, what, 200WT heaters? A 200WT heater pulls 1.67 Amps. If you have a 15-amp circuit 15 amp circuit, and you have nothing but heaters plugged in, if nine 200-watt heaters are on at once... POP.

And, if you have lights, filters, air pump, etc. on that same circuit, it's going to be significantly south of nine....

For heating a basement space, electric space heaters are certainly one option to go. You can buy a plug-in thermostat that will control it, too, and save significantly on electricity. This should also be plugged in on a separate circuit -- some of them pull 5 A or more (some a lot more). If you have gas heat, you can also look into having a gas line put in for a gas powered space heater. Its expensive up front -- but you'll probably save over a single winter on costs alone. I have friends who has a cozy portable gas fireplace in their fishroom -- it's hooked to the gas line for the house, but it's just one of those drop in fireplaces. Its also thermostatically controlled, and works well.

My current project is to convert all of my tanks to a flow through system, at which point I'll be adding a thermostatically controlled tankless hot water heater to the system. I'll let you know how that works out....

The biggest place you can add up some savings though is in insulation. Go to Home Depot and buy some of those big, thick styrofoam sheets and cover your walls with them. You're setting up, still, so do it NOW before winter sets in. For $300-400, you can add significant savings here.

Remember that it isn't temperature that bothers fish, even tropical fish, it's temperature CHANGE. Insulation is going to fix your daily roll.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I'm going to do some research on thermostat controlled room heaters and I will designate them to their own breaker/breakers. I cant do anything too permanent here as this isn't my home and will eventually be moving again. JLW the tankless water heater idea sounds awesome.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

JLW if you don't mind, can you elaborate more on your flow through system? Do you run a centralized sump? something along the lines of Tank->sump->pump->water heater->

 

[JLW]

I haven't quite set the heater part of it up yet. The central filter part really isn't that important. I've got about half the tanks on central filtration and half on sponge filters, but am leaning toward moving entirely to central filtration in the near future, as its less maintenance. Basically, all the tanks drain into a sump filled with media, as well as a return pump.

My idea is to put into this a small pump that is connected to an aquarium thermostat -- a heater controller. Instead of controlling a heater, it'll control the pump. When the pump is on, it'll pump water through a tankless water heater connected to a propane cylinder -- I may also figure out how to hook it up to my house's gas line, but that's a major renovation. The pump will simply cycle water through the sump. I figure put the pump on the "far" end, and have it return where the main pump is. When it gets too cold, it'll pour hot water in until the system warms up.

The way the tankless works is that when water is flowing, it heats it. When not, it shuts off. They typically use D-Cell batteries, but that's not hard to hack to an AC adapter. Since the pump will only push water when its cold, it'll only heat then.

This is my theory; I haven't tried it yet. I also have to figure out the costs of propane vs electric for heating, and -- the big one -- figure out just how necessary it is to vent the tankless heater. If its on for brief periods, it's unlikely to produce significant quantities of carbon monoxide, but if the thing is coming on a lot... I may have to worry a bit.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Ideas are flowing

 

[Wet Sleeves]

I haven't quite set the heater part of it up yet. The central filter part really isn't that important. I've got about half the tanks on central filtration and half on sponge filters, but am leaning toward moving entirely to central filtration in the near future, as its less maintenance. Basically, all the tanks drain into a sump filled with media, as well as a return pump.

My idea is to put into this a small pump that is connected to an aquarium thermostat -- a heater controller. Instead of controlling a heater, it'll control the pump. When the pump is on, it'll pump water through a tankless water heater connected to a propane cylinder -- I may also figure out how to hook it up to my house's gas line, but that's a major renovation. The pump will simply cycle water through the sump. I figure put the pump on the "far" end, and have it return where the main pump is. When it gets too cold, it'll pour hot water in until the system warms up.

The way the tankless works is that when water is flowing, it heats it. When not, it shuts off. They typically use D-Cell batteries, but that's not hard to hack to an AC adapter. Since the pump will only push water when its cold, it'll only heat then.

This is my theory; I haven't tried it yet. I also have to figure out the costs of propane vs electric for heating, and -- the big one -- figure out just how necessary it is to vent the tankless heater. If its on for brief periods, it's unlikely to produce significant quantities of carbon monoxide, but if the thing is coming on a lot... I may have to worry a bit.

This sounds like an amazing idea even for smaller applications. Hmmmm... Now the gears are turning ...... (incase of power loss) Maybe a 30 amp generator? with designated receptacle outside tied into the panel inside to run whatever I see fit, plus all the aquariums and tankless water heater loop to the sump. This means no temp changes when power goes out, as long as someone is home to start it. A lot more affordable than a 10k investment in a natural gas powered Generac home system

 

[JLW]

In theory, you could use a DC pump and connect it by a backup switch to a car battery. Even cheaper.

 

[FishEggs]

As long as it's a propane or gas water heater. If it's an electric you would need more power with a 240v capability.

 

[JLW]

I meant the car battery to run the pumps.