# heating a tank in a basement



## Granny (Feb 23, 2011)

That would depend on a lot of things. For instance - 

How much money are you willing to spend heating the room for your fish, since aquarium heaters wouldn't be able to keep up.

What type of fish are you talking about? The temp diff could be bad to deadly for most tropical fish. I've never researched types of fish for cooler water but I know there are some (my grandson's goldfish for instance). You might want to start by deciding if you'd be happy with the type of fish that can live there.

I have a tank that I blanket at night when the temp gets down to 20 or so here. I use those foam tubes like you put on hot water pipes (to insulate them) on my canister tubes to help my heater(s) keep up. I use foam board backing as my background to help insulate the tank back from a cold wall. 

Depends on how hard you are willing to work at it and what fish you are happy keeping.


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## bonaparte (Feb 21, 2011)

Those are great tips. I'm in Oregon and I know it gets a lot colder in winter for a lot of you than it ever will for me, so your insights will be invaluable.

It does sound like insulating and heating the room should be step 1. It is an office, after all, so having at least in the 60F or so range seems reasonable.


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## Granny (Feb 23, 2011)

I also went a step up on my heaters. When I had to replace one on a 75G tank, I got the one that said it was for 100G and it worked much better and more efficiently. Then I went another step further and put a smaller heater on the opposite corner of the tank to help out on cold days and nights.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Heaters will have no problem heating the tank. I normally use 100w for a 29g tank. I'd use two 100w heaters or a 100 and a 50/75w for a tank in a colder atmosphere, and use a snug fitting glass hood, and potentially a wooden hood that covers the lights(with small vents.... but the idea here is to hold the heat in). I am sure you will be fine.


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## Granny (Feb 23, 2011)

@over_stocked - The only heater I can speak of is the one I was using, and it was incapable of consistently raising the temp the <20 deg> I needed. Bigger and multiple heaters helped solve that problem, but it still wouldn't be enough at my house in the dead of winter. That's why I had to resort to other ways to keep my wet pets warm enough  

There are ways - and it's do-able - but it takes planing, imagination, and determination sometimes to get-er-done!


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## Jonney_Boy (Apr 23, 2009)

I have a 100, 75 gal and a 10 gal all in my basement currently. The central heat in the house is programed to shutoff during the day when nobody is home. I have seen the basement drop as low as 50 deg F (10 deg C).

Best example of this is my 100 gal Discus tank, I am currently holding this tank at 87 deg F (or about 32 C). The tank is a custom tank with 1/2 glass, the background is a sheet of plywood for a bit of insulation from the cold window behind it.

The tank has two 300w inline heaters set to my desired temp, if it drops more than 2 degrees a third heater in the tank will kick on (200w) to help..... this generally only happens during a water change when i don't match the temps properly.

So, yes, you can keep fish in a cold basement. In fact I was talking to a local lfs who kept her personal discus tank outside, in near freezing temps heated by two 500w heaters..... no problems.

As far as concerns, there are a few.
a) Can you afford or justify the electrical bill
b) Are you able to power the tank with the electric circuit available to you. Each circuit only has approx 1600w to play with. My 100 gal tank is on a separate electrical circuit by it self. (heaters + lights + filters + misc items = 70% of the entire circuit).
c) How large is your tank. The larger the tank, the more stable the water conditions

Few things that can help
1) Insulating the tank. The back (and the sides if it is place in an area where you can't see it) can be insulated using some foam.
2) Thicker glass, or acrylic tanks will hold heat better
3) what fish are you running? My discus tank is hot (87f) while my rainbow tanks are cool (74F)


One more thing to keep in mind. If the temp difference between the tank and the room is huge, what is going to happen when the power goes out. Do you have a backup plan? (generator, inverter + huge battery backups, pull hot water from the hot water tank, boil water on the BBQ, fireplace in the room).


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## msawdey (Apr 6, 2009)

personally... i would buy 2 heaters that are double the wattage needed. if you want in tank.. go with the rena smartheaters.. they are amazing little pieces of equipment


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## newshound (May 9, 2005)

rigid sheets of insulation on the back and sides will do part of the trick easily. This will also keep some of the heat in during a shorter power loss.
You also might want to explore why the room is so cold. Does the heat go back into the forced air vent when the fan is off. Does cold air leak into the room somehow? Check for air leaks during windy and cold weather on exterior walls. Rim Joists are great for leaking tons of air costing you $$$$.
The pipe insulation is a great idea! wow never thought of that easy solution. 

Finally have you ever thought about winterizzing part of your basement... save you $$$ in the long run.
Just don't put fiberglass batting against an outside basement wall even with a vapour barrior. Jsut asking for mold issues.


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## jgmbosnia1 (Oct 18, 2010)

I keep a 20l in my garage. In the winter it gets down to the upper 40s. The tank stays above 76 with a 100w heater. I've been thinking about making a making an enclosed insulated cabinet. It would have sliding/folding doors. When I'm not woking on it everything would be nice and cozy with the doors closed.
Like everyone on here has said.....it all depends on how far you want to take this. The possibilities are endless.


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## Disco Dan (Mar 17, 2011)

My dad had a fish house in the UK - well a big wooden shed(!). 

Spent a bit insulating the shed - used polystyrene sheets (thick) on all walls (including back of the door) and ceiling. These were then covered with thin plywood and painted.

The only heating needed was a small butane gas heater during winter months (cold UK winters!). Rest of the year temp was high enough not to even need heaters in the tanks. Although he had a large common sump with a couple of 500w heaters - just in case. 

Insulation I feel is the key - I would focus on insulating the basement with perhaps a small extraction fan (like you find in the bathroom) rigged up to a thermostat so if the room gets too hot in summer it will extract the hot air outside. 

The better insulated the room the less the temperature will fluctuate and give consistently low power bills. It is also far far cheaper to insulate a room than each tank and heat individually. 

Heating each tank in a cold room is inefficient as so much heat will be lost - each heater will be trying to heat the whole room.

What type of walls/floor do you have? Bare concrete? Concrete with inner wooden frame, Gib board? 

Whatever type of method you use to heat the basement it would need to be at least semi-automated and safe to leave untended for long periods. This would rule out gas. A large oil filled column heater with built in thermostat would work, perhaps a small fan near it to circulate the air would improve the efficiency and distribution. 

You may even be able to get away with a heated towel rail - they are usually only about 80w and you may be surprised how little power is used for the heat generated. 

Avoid the radiant heaters (space heater?) which give off a lot of light. They heat objects rather than the air and would do little to improve the temp of the room. I would go for an oil filled column heater with a built in thermostat or wire it in to your homes thermostat.

A dehumidifier can also be used - they generally raise the average room temperature by 2-3 degrees C and will keep the room dry. It will get damp down there with all the water. 

If however insulating the room is too expensive (not sure how big your basement is!) there are few other tricks you could consider:

You can buy heater pads than sit underneath the tank but above the polystyrene, they can be connected in series or parallel and connected to a thermostat. This with insulating the back glass, have tight fitting coverglass may give you enough heating. Although if you have a sudden temp drop they may not be able to keep up. 

Use a common sump and have several powerful heaters in it set at slightly different temperatures - ie have one set to come on first, then if that one cannot heat the water quick enough the next comes on etc etc - good compromise between heating efficiency and power consumption. 

Look into your forced air vent - you may be able to improve the flow and heat output. First thought is fitting another fan to it? 

Basements usually have lots of vents to the outside to prevent mold and rotting your house etc - you could look at blocking these off to seal the room better. However you will need to use a dehumidifier to prevent the room becoming damp (they do heat slightly though).


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I would get a single 300w hydor inline and back that up with a good quality in tank for redundancy. You'll be fine.


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## bonaparte (Feb 21, 2011)

Thanks for the amazing advice, everyone. I'm going to tackle the grand plan: insulate the whole basement and then tackle the tank. I'm going to wait until winter so that I know exactly what I'm dealing with.


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## Disco Dan (Mar 17, 2011)

bonaparte said:


> Thanks for the amazing advice, everyone. I'm going to tackle the grand plan: insulate the whole basement and then tackle the tank. I'm going to wait until winter so that I know exactly what I'm dealing with.


Great, make sure you post some pictures in this thread of your progress!! 

Good luck !


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