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Zoom
09-07-2009, 12:53
Would putting a thermal type blanket, (or any other blanket for that matter) over a fish tank at night assist with heat loss at all, or am I wasting time? What effect would/could this have on oxygen in the water? Would the blanket cause a suffocating effect?

The area where my tank is at night is not the warmes of places when the sun goes down, which means the heaters are working longer and harder... was thinking if putting a blanket over the tank at night would help at all?

Reafer
09-07-2009, 13:20
I put blankets over all my tanks at night , it really does help with saving power

Zafgak
09-07-2009, 15:26
Blankets will help tremendously with power savings - they are also recommended during power failures to contain the heat radiation losses

f-fish
09-07-2009, 21:21
All my indoor tanks have blankets on them at night at lights off - outside I now have bubble-wrap to allow some sunlight into the tanks during the day, but I still add the blankets at night.

To give you an idea .. the current outside temperature is 11.5 - the tanks outside are sitting at 20.4 (dropped 0.4 degrees since the I put the cold blankets on at 17:00) The heater is set to just below 20 degrees and is not currently heating.

I have also replaced most of my canopies with glass sheets as covers - this has dropped evaporations and heating requirements as an added bonus.

If possible reducing the circulation at night will also help - esp if you have an air pump - bubbling cold air from outside also cools things down. (I am not saying that you should not have any circulation but I have seen no harm in reducing it at night)

Zafgak
09-07-2009, 21:25
F-Fish - better watch out - EishKom will be after you soon - they NEED money !!!!

veegal
09-07-2009, 21:36
If possible reducing the circulation at night will also help - esp if you have an air pump - bubbling cold air from outside also cools things down. (I am not saying that you should not have any circulation but I have seen no harm in reducing it at night)

This depends on the number of plants you have in your tank as well though - remember that plants release carbon dioxide at night which can raise the levels and could actually necessitate the need for oxygen if you have enough plants, especially with those fish who require high levels of oxygen.