Anyone Keep Their Tank In The Garage/shed In The Uk?

[calversbuyuk]

Hey,
got a new tank the other day which is being kept in the garage, its 1000litres plus a 4ft sump. I am going to be running 2x 500W heaters on the tank plus maybe a 200W heater. Just wondering if anyone has kept a tank in their garage before? mine is NOT insulated however i am going to be buying some of this -
 
http/www.wickes.co.uk/invt/210802
 
To cover the tank in to help keep the heat in etc! 
 
Any suggestions at all?

Thanks

 

[dougie]

No suggestions, but will be very interested to see how you get on - I've got a 100gal sitting idle in the garage & have thought myself if it would manage to hold temp in our winter.
Will you insulated it leaving the front open for viewing?

Cheers & good luck!

Dougie.

 

[Garbolino]

It would probably work, but make sure it is not going to get knocked, kids bikes etc

If it was me I wouldn't bother I can't see the joy or satisfaction you would get with it stuck in a cold garage, I like to sit & enjoy watching my fish, you can then see them interacting with each other & there surroundings, who there tolerate & who there dislike etc

 

[calversbuyuk]

Ah well yeh ill let you know how it goes and if it keeps a good temp and yeh i will leave the front open for viewing
 
 
Garbolino i see what you are saying however as i am still living at home with mum (19) she didnt want a 6x3x2 fish tank in the lounge so only place was the garage, to be honest i think i will be spending a bit more tim out there for these
 
and yeh theres nothing which will knock it ill make sure off it! 

Cheers

 

[pingu2013]

Id get a back up heater in there aswell. 

 

[calversbuyuk]

What in the tank?
I have just purchased 2x 500w heaters which will be going in there plus 1x 200w so will have 3 heaters in their in total 

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

What temp are you trying to maintain the water at?
What temp is the ambient air in the garage?
 
I have a Rio400 under several layers of bubblewrap, sheets etc. in my very basically insulated garage using a single 300W Visitherm heater, but I'm only trying to maintain 18C for my Ilyodon xantusi youngsters. I expected to have to bring them indoors before now, but the relatively wild winter so far has meant the garage is remaining at a respectable temp of ~13C.

 

[Blobfish]

Garbolino i see what you are saying however as i am still living at home with mum (19) she didnt want a 6x3x2 fish tank in the lounge 

 
Funny woman!  

 

[calversbuyuk]

I am trying to keep the tank at around 28degrees its for a cichlid tank, and i am not sure of the temp of the garage io have never thought to find out really.
but thats sounds all right then with what you have done, hope mine will be all right too..but here is a little update-
 
the 2 heaters have arrived and i placed these in the tank about 10 hours ago and the temperature has gone from about 8 degrees to 20, i have also just purchased another 500w heater online as a backup which i will also have running in the tank in case there are any problems.
 
I also bought the polystrene from Wickes and i will be wrapping the tank in this so i will see how this goes and see if it can do the job, will hopefully do this tomorrow so will see how it goes..
 
 
haha i know Blobfish, you can see why though its a big tank!

 

[ShinySideUp]

So you will have 1kW of heat going in to your tank but in an unheated, uninsulated garage. I wish you luck with your electricity bill as in the average UK winter I expect the heaters will be working all the time. My own six foot tank runs 2 x 200W heaters and they are on half the time and it is in my heated living room.

 

[calversbuyuk]

Well have been told that the polsytrene works really well, im going to try the polystrene out all around the tank and see what this does and see if it helps... ill try it and see how it goes

 

[Glenmaverick]

Hello just reading this as I’m thinking about a very simular project. I know this was all back in 2013 but are any of you guys still on here and particularly calversbuyuk how did it go?

 

[zain611]

Hello just reading this as I’m thinking about a very simular project. I know this was all back in 2013 but are any of you guys still on here and particularly calversbuyuk how did it go?

I used to have a small tank in my garage with 2 goldfishes in. The garage would get my dad's friends cars coming in as my dad would fix them. No problems I had. One of the goldfishes died of swim bladder but then they were in a tank in the house. The other goldfish I put in my grandads pond (as I learnt that goldfishes shouldn't be kept in small tanks) and he grew fast but sadly got eaten by a pelican.

 

[Glenmaverick]

Thank you for that. Lucky pelican. Really I’m thinking of a tropical tank. I think I need lots of insulation

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'm not in the UK and I don't know how cool/cold your garage gets in winter. I'm in the Northeast USA. I have tanks in my unheated basement that is about 55F/12.7C in winter. I oversize the heater(s) and surround with styrofoam insulation, including the front (which is easily removable). In the case of my 110g stock tank that was outside in the summer, now in the basement, It's up off the concrete floor and sit on styrofoam insulation. I also made a 'koosie' out of a double wrap of some old carpet padding foam. (also notice the back of the 37g in the upper right of the photo):

But these are not display tanks, but rather breeding/grow out tanks.
If it gets uncomfortably cool, you might want to insulate and heat the garage ... or get on Mum's good side so you can move the tank in the house.