# Point of use water heaters for aquarium



## travis2k (Apr 23, 2008)

Has anyone used one of these to heat an aquarium?

http://www.clage.com/produkte/Produktgruppen/DEX.php

I havent stopped to figure out the wattage, and if it would be worth it, but I am looking
at heating a 700 gallon tank, and thought something like this might be better than using 
6-8 300 watt heaters

any thoughts?


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

I think you'd be better off enclosing the tank into a small room, and then heating the room. Having all that warm water in an otherwise cool room usually causes humidity issues, and your whole basement (or house) will smell like an aquarium.


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## travis2k (Apr 23, 2008)

The room it is going in, is about 10x12 ish, it was a garage.

The tank will be sealed (close to air tight)
I was planning on insulating the walls of the tank (2x4 studs with ply and fibreglass)
I will put a dehumidifier in the room, because i dont like the thought of humidity problems

so rather than heat the tank, you suggest I heat the room? Isnt 80 awfully hot.
Is it cheaper to heat a room with baseboards, than heat the water?

If I heat the room, would I be best not to insulate the tank?

another thought, I have a large airspace under the tank, could I mostly enclose that in, and heat that area, and insulate the walls?

Thanks


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

I see no reason that you could not use that type of equipment save possibly that those aren't meant to heat dirty water. Maybe email the vendor on that question.

I wouldn't try and heat the whole room... Heating the whole room is good advice for many small tanks in a fishroom, but for a single jumbo tank, it's not commonly done. E.g. those with shark tanks down here would NOT heat their whole house to 80. My friend at work is just in the middle of having his shark tank re-equipped and I'll ask what he's doing for heating. I'll let you know tomorrow! :thumb:


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2008)

Why don't you just get one or two 1,000watt heaters and a heater controller?

Jehmco.com sells 1,000 watt Titanium unbreakable heaters for $75 with out the controller, and their controllers (you set digitally what temperature you want the aquarium heated at, and plug the heaters into it and it has a probe that measures the temperature of the water, so if it gets below whatever temperature you want your aquarium at it will automatically turn on and then off when it reaches the set temperature) run from $45 to $220 depending on how much wattage with the heaters you want (1500 watts would probably be enough for a 700gallon tank. The people at Jehmco.com would be able to tell you better though).

Here are their heaters: http://jehmco.com/html/heaters.html#Titanium%20Heaters

Here are their temperature controllers: http://jehmco.com/html/temperature_controller.html

I also saw this, a heating coil that you can bend and fit on the inside of a sump and so on. I have no idea how well it works and so on, but it says it's great for large aquariums and central systems so you should probably look into it and see if it would work best for you: http://jehmco.com/html/heaters.html#HeaterAdapter1

Hope that helps...

~Ed


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## ccrider (Sep 5, 2008)

since you're heating a big tank, have you thought about using a hot tub heater and pump?i know they are accurate and dependable, maybe you could find a used setup.


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## ccrider (Sep 5, 2008)

dohh


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## travis2k (Apr 23, 2008)

Marduk Thanks for the links to jehmco I will check that out

I havent thought about much for heating, other than there must be alternatives for such a large tank.

I would like to find the most energy efficient way to heat the tank. 
Hot tube heater is a good thought,

any and all heating ideas are appreciated.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

checked with my buddy... he uses a couple 1000W heaters... I see Marduk gave you some useful info, but do tell us what you end up using if you do go the DIY route!!!

:thumb:


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I insulated my 520 gallon tank but with 2" styrofoam, not fiberglass insulation. Fiberglass loses its efficiency in humid conditions. Because I used a large submerged circulation pump which raised the water temp about 10 degrees, I neve needed to heat the aquarium. If you use a Mag 24 or 36 you will notice the waste heat warms the tank, perhaps enough depending on the cichlids you plan to keep.


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## travis2k (Apr 23, 2008)

> Why don't you just get one or two 1,000watt heaters and a heater controller?


SO with the Jemco heater and controller, I can use multiple heaters with one controller?


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

I'm working on a DIY heat controller to run multiple heaters at the same time. 
I will be using a floor heating electronic thermostat that can be used on 120V. Floor heat stats come with a temperature probe that usually goes under your tile. I'm going to put this probe in my tank instead (this already works as I've tested it). With this stat hooked up to outlets instead of a floor heat pad I will be able to simply plug in the heaters. 
The advantages of this system will be
-All the heaters will run at the same time in different locations 
-The heaters will only be given as much power as needed to keep the water up to temp (a regular stat is full on or full off a electronic stat can give percentages of power)
-If I really wanted I could have different temps per time of day (simulate night time temps)
-The stat is GFI protected
-I could set all of the aquarium heaters to say 81F and the stat at 79F so if the stat ever failed "ON" the heaters would then only heat the water two degrees warmer.
-It looks really high tech with a backlit clock and digital temp display.

At around a $100 it's not a really cheap way to go but they can handle a high wattage. I think mine can handle 3000w or more and they look great.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

travis2k said:


> > Why don't you just get one or two 1,000watt heaters and a heater controller?
> 
> 
> SO with the Jemco heater and controller, I can use multiple heaters with one controller?


Yes, that's the best way to get multiple heaters to work well together. You'll find an explanation on the
Jehmco site why this works best.


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