Tank In A Cool Room?

[Lisa67]

I just got a 50 gal tank from a coworker (she bought it only a few months ago for one fish that quickly died). I have NO idea where to put this thing, but want to have a ciclid tank. The only free space I can find is my laundry/sun room. It's part of the house, not a 3 season room but it never stays as warm as the rest of the house. On some winter days it gets down to the mid to low 60s. (The rest of the year it's fine...mainly Jan and Feb I'm concerned about). Would a tank heater be able to keep up with that?

 

[always4lora]

I just got a 50 gal tank from a coworker (she bought it only a few months ago for one fish that quickly died). I have NO idea where to put this thing, but want to have a ciclid tank. The only free space I can find is my laundry/sun room. It's part of the house, not a 3 season room but it never stays as warm as the rest of the house. On some winter days it gets down to the mid to low 60s. (The rest of the year it's fine...mainly Jan and Feb I'm concerned about). Would a tank heater be able to keep up with that?

Will be fine, all it will mean is the heater will be on more than not.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I just got a 50 gal tank from a coworker (she bought it only a few months ago for one fish that quickly died). I have NO idea where to put this thing, but want to have a ciclid tank. The only free space I can find is my laundry/sun room. It's part of the house, not a 3 season room but it never stays as warm as the rest of the house. On some winter days it gets down to the mid to low 60s. (The rest of the year it's fine...mainly Jan and Feb I'm concerned about). Would a tank heater be able to keep up with that?

Will be fine, all it will mean is the heater will be on more than not.

Also your tank may well be covered in condesation due to the temp diferential

 

[guppi]

Whats the wattage of the heater. my Biorb 30lre struggled with a 25watts heater in a cold room. Wouldnt get any higher than 72 degs.

 

[Rynofasho]

Ya, I'd say you'd probably want a 200W heater to be on the safe side since it will be working harder.

 

[Lisa67]

Not sure about the heater, but I'll buy a new one if I have to. Glad to hear it...my only other option was to get rid of the couch. LOL

 

[OldMan47]

A mid 60s room is what all of my tanks must deal with Lisa. My wife insists that the heater's thermostat never be turned above 66F and most of the day the set-back thermostat is set at 64F. Even so the typical 5 watts per gallon for my tanks is enough that all fish are kept comfortable. Some of my tanks run without heaters, the goodeid tanks, and the rest are kept in the right range by the heaters. A simple difference of 10F is nothing that a heater cannot deal with quite well.

 

[symon_say]

Get 2 smaller heater instead of 1 big, that way you can place one in each end of the tank, and in case of failure you still have some heating.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Get 2 smaller heater instead of 1 big, that way you can place one in each end of the tank, and in case of failure you still have some heating.

A very good idea if you can afford it. My 200w heater was £23 whilst a 100w one would of been £20 so it would of been nearly twice the price to do it the way you suggest.

 

[waterdrop]

If you have an external filter that uses hoses on the tank then an "inline" heater is a nice addition. It warms the water as it goes through the hose and thus the warm water gets well distributed by the filter output. I use a 200w one from Hydor.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mikaila31]

It will be fine, use a 200watt or 300watt IMO. That is what I have used on my 55 in the past. It is in our basement and on cold winter nights when it is -18*F basement can drop below 60. Generally on those nights I throw a sleeping bag over it mainly to reduce the amount of power the heater sucks up. Tanks are very poor at holding heat. Considering where your tank is located you might want to fashion some insulation on it. Painting 1" Styrofoam panels black and attaching them to any non-viewing sides of the tank will help insulate. A tight fitting lid will help too. The heater makes up the biggest cost in running an aquarium for most. I believe 8 hours a day is considered "normal" run time for a heater, but this can very a lot. Given a 200 watt heater running for 8 hours a day with electricity 11 cents a kW your tank will cost $64 a year to heat. In the US a 200 watt submersible heater runs around $30. I personally recommend the brand Sera for many reasons.