Insulated fish rack

[Smiling Paul]

Hello everyone, long term listener (pocasts) and periodic forum lurker here with my first post. I unfortunately i dont have much time to watch YouTube but still a massive fan of aquarium coop and all the education and works you do for the hobby.

I'm thinking of putting a fish rack up at my workshop. However has no heating and is cold during the day and it's very very cold at night, drops to single digit Celsius temps. I'm unable to insulate the whole place and no room to build a room so have the thought of building a rack and then boxing it in on the back and side with insulation and wood then on the front putting a front on made of polycarbonate sheet (or even wood+insulation) which can be removed during the day. This way the heaters would do their job and the box would keep the heat in. If anyone has any experience (or even better examples/pictures) of this idea I would love to hear from you. 

 

Thanks 🙂

 

[Fish Folk]

Tagging @Levi_Aquatics who has put up a mini fishroom within an insulating tent (if I understand correctly).

My guess is that you’ll have to do _some insulation_ and choose _temperate_ species.

[tolstoy21]

Unless you completely enclose the space and insulate it correctly, it's probably going to be hard to hold the heat without running some kind of heater full blast 24x7. 

I made a 10x12 room in my basement over the last year+ and insulated both it's exterior walls and interior walls. I used 2" foam insulation panels on the concrete walls and filled all the gaps and cracks with spray foam. The interior walls have standard fiberglass insulation. The whole thing is finished with dry wall.

My basement doesn't drop below 55F (12C) in the winter. On those days my space heater runs most of the day to keep the room at 76F.

Without taking the time to build out the space properly I think you are going to have problems holding heat. I don't think a polycarbonate sheet is going to do much if it's as cold as you suggest.

Edited November 23, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Patrick_G]

I like the idea of the “grow tent” that Levi Aquatics has. 
@Beardedbillygoat1975 recently built a diy insulated space in a garage, I bet he had some tips. 

[Fish Folk]

Surely you’ve seen this…

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

It would work. I made a “box” using styrofoam insulation sheets from a big box hardware store using the frame as my structure to attach the sheets. I also used PVC to creat the roof with more styrofoam insulation used for this as well. 
 

The door you could even use almost like a barndoor kit to open it and just have the styrofoam attached to it to open. 

[Remi de Groot]

You still have this set up? Would love to see a picture.

Was planning on making a fish room next year. But the energy and gas prices here are insane at the moment. 

[Flumpweesel]

If it fits you could erect a garden shed in there, but do be careful when insulating not to make the room air tight or you will have a lot of problems.

 

[Levi_Aquatics]

I have a journal about this setup if you are really interested, but pretty much I set up a 4x8 foot insulated grow tent that I keep a few aquariums in. It is in my basement, so it stays about 60 or so outside the tent. With a dehumidifier running some of the time and the aquarium equipment it stays at about 78f 

[Smiling Paul]

Thank you to all the replies. I've a few things to go on there. It's because of rising energy costs that I want to do it. If the heaters don't work as hard then it's won't hit my wallet as hard lol

I'd not thought about a grow tent. It's a cracking idea but when a customer sees a grow tent in the corner they won't think it's for fish tanks so I think it's best i don't do that haha