Heating Basement Tanks

[Ogpulchra]

I completely overlooked the issue of heating aquariums 20-25° above ambient room temperature when I started setting up a fish rack in the basement. I have a 77"x 24"x72" rack with two 40g breeders and two 20g longs. The basement ranges from 50-65°F. All of my fish are tropical.

Would covering the rack with 2" sheets of insulation make much of a difference? Should I cover the concrete walls behind the rack too? I can cover the front of the rack when I'm not viewing the tanks.

All of the tanks have glass lids and I bought two 150w heaters for each of the 40g breeders and two 100w heaters for each of the 20g longs. Should I get more heaters or higher wattage for each tank? Is my electric bill going to shoot up an insane amount? More than $100/month increase? 

The basement is unheated and has no insulation, so heating the entire room isn't really an option. 

Anyone have advice or experience with this issue?

 

 

[lefty o]

short term, heaters in tanks will work. if this is a long term fish room, i would consider insulating the room, and dropping in a heat duct.

[tonyjuliano]

You underestimate your requirements.

Assuming an average ambient temperature of 60 degrees, the following wattage's would be required to raise the temp to 78 degrees.

20 gallons - 180 watts

40 gallons - 360 watts

The total for the 4 tanks would be 1180 watts potential, if they are running 25% of the time (a safe assumption) and your kWH rate is $13/hour (which is average), the cost would be around $7.80 per day, total for all 4 tanks.

Edited May 21, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Ogpulchra]

I must have misunderstood something... I calculated something closer to .13 per kWH. $13 doesn't seem right

Edited May 21, 2021 by Ogpulchra

[Patrick_G]

.13/kWH sounds right, ours is .10/kWH
Right now you you have 1000w total so about .13/hour or 3.12/day if they’re always on. In a 55ish degree room they might be on more than off. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Ogpulchra]

Thanks, Patrick. My power is actually .09 per kWh, so that's closer to the number I was getting. I think it will be doable if I just have the 40g breeders down there. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything because I saw some wild numbers on forum threads. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Ogpulchra

[DSH OUTDOORS]

My cost is at .15/kWH.  Last year I was running 17.7 kWH/Day and this year I am running 39.6 kWH/Day. 

I had no tanks last year.

This year I have 7 300W heaters and a 500W heater running my tanks in my 65 degree basement to tropical temperatures and 1 500W heater in my 165 gallon pond outside, in Minnesota, in May maintaining temps over 65 degrees.

Long story short, ALL of my aquarium equipment (heaters, filters, air pumps and lights) for my 15 plus tanks have cost me $2.50 - $3.00 a day or $75-$90 dollars a month compared to last year.

To answer your questions, any foam insulation that you plan on adding is going to reduce these costs.  The insulation against the concrete and on top of tanks will be the most beneficial.

 

[LaurieinIA]

This topic is a little depressing.  😉 After looking at my credit card charges since starting tank #1 back in August 2020, I was already feeling mildy guilty about the $$$ I’ve put into them... more so now that I have 3.  Thinking about the increase in the utility bill just makes me feel more guilty.  LOL

Edited May 21, 2021 by LaurieinIA

[Ogpulchra]

Same here haha

Edited May 28, 2021 by Ogpulchra