Keeping Tanks Warm...

[barmy]

hiya.

After spending around £500 kitting out my shed into a fish house....

put the first tank up this morning to test (its empty), i have encountered a problem.

How do i keep the tank warm

the shed is insulated with foil backing, 50mm polystyrene insulation, then 3 mm hardboard covering it all, the only bits i havent insulated are the doors, as i havent figured out how to do this yet.

Put the tank in early on, running, just checked it, and its running at 16 degrees, which is far too cold!

any ideas on how to keep my tanks warmer during the cold nights?

the tanks are 20 gallons, running with 50w heater and a filter.

any help would be appreciated, i am gutted to think its not going to work!

 

[Cory_Dad]

I think you need to add a second heater for each tank. I have a 20 gallon long with a 150 watt heater and they tank is in my basement.

Good luck.

 

[Mikaila31]

Well how many tanks are you putting in there. It many be that once you have a couple tanks set up and heating that they will warm the shed up. Or like above you many need two heater for each tank, or you could try putting some space heaters in the shed to warm the air up.

 

[Cory_Dad]

Well how many tanks are you putting in there. It many be that once you have a couple tanks set up and heating that they will warm the shed up. Or like above you many need two heater for each tank, or you could try putting some space heaters in the shed to warm the air up.

True, but I think warming the water directly is more efficient than warming the air. If he puts in another 50 into each that should do it. That would also give him redundancy should one heater fail.

A lot of this depends on the temperature differential between the outside air and the inside air plus the the amount of insulation in the walls and especially the roof (warm air rises).

Cheers.

 

[barmy]

Hi

There will eventually a few tanks in there, i will build them up as i need them.

I changed the heater to a 75w, and so far so good, checked this morning, and seems to be holding the temp.

going to get some blankets from charity shop too and make little covers for the tops, to prevent air change. i will remove these in the morning.

thanks for your replys all!

 

[Cory_Dad]

Hmm, I may be a little out of my depth here but I'm not sure that stopping the air circulation is such a good idea unless you have air stones in each tank to help oxygenate the water.

If you use the blankets like a wrap instead of a tea cozy then that would be ok.

That's just my uneducated opinion.

Cheers.