Heating Alternatives -

Ludwig Venter · May 26, 2010

Colder weather is slowly stepping in here in SA, (June 21 - being mid winter) and I'll have to start putting heaters into my tanks. I'm still setting up additional tanks in my new fishroom and will eventually have around 30 tanks up and running in this room.

My question is.... do I put a heater into every tank or simply heat the room with a fan-heater. The room is well insullated....

rdp50734 · May 26, 2010

I would heat the room if its well insulated!

walkers101 · May 26, 2010

yea just heat the room mate makes more sense and will cost less

Ludwig Venter · May 26, 2010

walkers101 said:
yea just heat the room mate makes more sense and will cost less

My concern is just, (apart from the discomfort of working in a heated room), will the water not tend to "condensate" onto the walls and ceiling and cause moulding in the long term??... Using heaters inside each tank will certainly reduce the "sensible" temperature and maybe keep the room drier than the fan heater???....

rdp50734 · May 26, 2010

One of my lfs heats his whole shop to keep the tanks at 28C I have never noticed condensation on the walls or any mould. I can not guarantee it though!

nurglespuss · May 26, 2010

Do both, water retains heat very well (once absorbed).

Providing you have driptrays/condenstation voers it shouldnt be too much of a problem. Run the heater in the day, and knock it off at night. the absorbed heat will mean the heaters barely need to activate.

Another note, heaters use a tiny ammount of electricity compared to a fan heater, and would be the most economical option (unless the room is absolutely freezing).

saz326 · May 26, 2010

Surely it would be better to heat the tanks. The tanks would then heat the room.

It would probably be more energy efficient to heat the tanks too as there wouldnt be heat wasted on heating walls and floors etc.

mind you, it all depends on how cheaply you can heat a room and how much it would cost to buy and run all the heaters.