Heating fish room

Hi guys.

I have some good news. The misses gave me the go ahead to revamp the outside shed and to turn it into a fish room.

Will have 20+ tanks in there...

Biggest problem that i had this winter was electricity costs.
So i think that should be the first thing to research and work on.
Because it will be a dedicated fish room, i can insulate the entire room from day 1, which will save money in the long run.
The room is not big, so it will need good organisation and planning.

Im planning on insolating room and roof with a insolating board of some kind...

Will only use sponge filters. That will run from a central air ring system...

Will only use led lighting.

Now, i have worked out that heating the entire room, and only using internal heaters where needed would be better for such big quantity tanks in a small space. All the tanks, or most will be covered to cover the humidity isue.

Now the million dollor question or discution - heating the room with a panel heater, connected up to a thermostat that only comes on when room heat is 26 - 27.

Whats your input on this from electricity saving point of view, and practical point of view?

Might sound or look weird, but i have been wondering. Only doing research sofar.

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Either panel heaters on each wall, or 1-2 oil heaters in the centre of the room.

 

@Pezulu panel heaters sounds good. I know they sell the 400 watts at makro for a good price. And i can wall mount them.

Will have to do some research to see how i can use them on a set temp only to come on when required though

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Found a place that has thermostats that can be hooked up in that way. Will cost R600

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Expensive, but maybe worth it in the long run.

 

Agree @Pezulu heating the room can work out +- R1200

If i had to buy heaters for all aquariums, it would have been +- R3000

so its a win SOFAR

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I would still add a 100W or 150W heater in each tank, with it set to 24-26°C.
That way you know that the temperatures are constantly the same.
I prefer knowing all my tanks are at the right temperature.

With the panel heaters the closer the tanks are to the heater, the warmer it will be, and the reverse is also true the further they are from the heater.

 

@Pezulu yes it makes sense. But i will have to work something out. Dont really want aquarium heaters, but i will use them if i have no other choice

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Individual aquarium heaters are going to be VERY expensive if you have 20+ tanks, but I prefer to play devils' advocate, and expect something to go wrong, and take preventative measures to forestall anything happening.

 

Its quit a tough 1.


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Howzit Fishlips.

Sounds like air distribution, filtration & Lighting is under control.

The main issue would be temperature, when building a fish room keep in mind heat is constantly trying to escape.
Good isolation is key in keeping a constant ambient temperature which in turn will do the same for your tanks.

We have found that cladding all the walls & ceilings with 25mm Polystyrene sheets (thicker the better) and a heater per a tank works well.
With every tank having a heater not only will you have piece of mind but you will find that the tanks which are closest to the ceiling, heaters hardly turn on. That's if you looking at stack-ups stands 3-4 tanks high.

The heaters might be more costly in the initial layout however in the long run saving on the use of electricity.

 

I'm no electrical engineer, but what you are proposing is to heat the air in the room and transferring the heat from the air in the room to the tanks thus warming them.
Heating a volume of water will take a certain amount of energy, if you use a 200w heater vs a 500w heater it will take the same amount of energy, but a 500w heater will do it quicker.
What you are proposing, I think, will help to keep the room and tanks at a higher ambient temperature and you will thus need less direct heat from tank heaters, but i would imagine you would loose a lot of heat (energy) to the air, and you use more electricity doing it this way than adding individual heaters as suggested above
In a fish room, i would also insulate the back and sides of the tanks with polystyrene, and cover them with geyser blankets or space blankets, even bubble wrap is a low cost effective insulation material.

 

Thank you for the input @Jack Stone

Maybe that then should be the root to go...

Air is fine, will be using a pond air pump in a pvc air ring, with valves every few cm apart with small air pipes going into tanks.
Will then use sponge filters that will filter tanks and help with airation...

For lighting i will use the cheap led tube lights that they sell at china mall. Running 3 outside, come wind rain and sun, no problem...

Will use them to light the room, and also use more of them to light the tanks.

Filtration and lighting will probably ad up to around 100 watt if that...

Doing the multi tank stands with cinderblocks and 2 by 4s.

Floor is cement, doubt that i will be tiling, perhaps just paint it with blue roof paint or something.

Will also insolate the entire roof with board as well, and same goes for the door. Room has no windows, so no heat escape there..

Will just use some foam strip by the door too...


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Thanks @Jwh

Im no export on this topic, but yes, perhaps i should first get the room insolated, then play around on a small scale. Didnt really want to go the aquarium heater root, but if it doesnt leave me any other choice, then i have to.

Never thought that fish keeping could involve so much planning lol

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The planning is only a small part of it.
Once you have 20+ tanks running, there is the daily maintenance, feeding, checking for eggs, fry and all the other goodies.
You're looking at an almost full time hobby.

 

Jip i know @Pezulu i got the time to do it now, would be a shame if i dont

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I have the time, but not the space or money. :evil:

 

Haha ja money is a big thing. Thats why i would be doing it over a few months

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I really envied you for a second, having a designated fishroom is one of my goals, but then the dreaded thought of water changes came to my mind, how on earth are you going to handle this? You won't have a weekend to yourself buddy.

 

Will show you i have a plan there too

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