# fish room heating



## staples2485 (Aug 13, 2007)

im currently building a new and much larger fish room  ! but im not gonna run heaters in all the tanks like before. just wondering what all u guys use for heat? Im not sure what is better electric or gas or those blue flame ones. also what is most economical i dont want to go broke doing it. but i want it to be practical too. If anyone knows much about this stuff the info would be very helpful :thumb: thanks


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## Awugod (Mar 10, 2006)

I am not expert, but I'll ask because I am sure others will. What size room is it going to be, how many tanks, and how cold does the room usually get (I'm assuming your concerned about the winter time frame)?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

When I built the fish room, I was going to create a separate heating zone for it. The furnace guy (an aquarist himself) told me that simply adding one more vent than the room "rated", would make it warmer than the rest of the house. I did make my outside walls 8" thick with two rows of studs about a half inch gap between the walls and used 8" fiberglass insulation and an inch of styrofoam. And I insulated the interior walls and the ceiling between the fish room and the rooms above.

The advantage of the extra vent is that it does work, my fish room is in the 80's, and you save the cost of the separate zone, but in the summer when the air conditioning comes on, you have to block two of the vents or the fish room becomes a refrigerator. Next time, I'll go with the separate heating zone, and maybe another zone for a live foods/red worm room that could be kept cool year round, if the cost is reasonable.


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## R-DUB (Jun 3, 2007)

Staples I would make sure that the room is very well insulated first of all. (much like Mcaphnia) Then if your house uses a gas furnace then I would see about a small gas heater for that room. Just for the fact that you already have the supply to the house.


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## finman57 (Oct 11, 2005)

I use two small space heaters. The digital kind that you set the temp. 
Two problems with this.
cost of electric, which is probably the same as the heaters in the tank. not sure
and if the electric blinks, the heaters do not come back on.
I also use a dehumidifyer that also helps heat the room. 
Room is only 8 by 16


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Those I know with larger fish rooms all swear by space heating, mostly using one of the small ceramic heaters, to heat a room with up to 100 tanks. The disadvantage is that the room may become uncomfortably hot. Depends on how warm you need it. My personal preference is to keep fish at the bottom of their so called "prefernce" range. Reduces problems in the long run, as well as costs. I never heat livebearer tanks as an example, and since my tanks are in the basement, the temps range from 66F in summer to 72F in winter. I have 3 Pseudotropheus flavus in an unheated tank, and they are also doing fine. Works for me, and no I never get ich.


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

If possible you should use hard wired electric heat such as baseboard or even better convectors with an electronic thermostat this way your heat will be with in +/- .5 of a degree from where you want it.


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