heating fish tank water

[Del Roach]

Can someone tell me the most efficient way to heat my fish tank water?  Thanks  Doc

[RupertofOZ]

Efficient.... in terms of what... and for what purpose...??

[Del Roach]

my fish tank has recently dropped to 65 and I want to bring it back up to at least 70

[RupertofOZ]

Is the tank outside, or inside.... exposed, or housed... and/or insulated?

[Del Roach]

It is in a temporary hot house. it's an ibc and not insuated
 
RupertofOZ said:

Is the tank outside, or inside.... exposed, or housed... and/or insulated?

[Jim Fisk]

Hey Del, I am doing the same and I found that the ibc cage is a terrible heat loss so I used 4' floating floor foam under layment available at any lumber/floor supply and wrapped it around the tote. Made a big difference. 2 or 3 layers would be even better. I only had enough for 1 layer kicking around so it will do for now. I then added about 15gal of hot well water and it came up pretty well and the bluegills were jumping for joy and ravenous.

[Joe Bifano]

There are a couple of things you can do. My tanks are in the ground and I am in Colorado so it gets cold. I have them insulated with 2" foam and a Aluminum barrier for a total of R21.  I then have a pex setup all around the sides and bottom of the tank that comes from a hot water heater.  I see it on for about an hour per night. I keep it at 70 and I am having 40 degree nights already. The other thing I am trying is a solar panel were my raft water is pumped to it and comes back about 3 to 4 degrees higher than it is. This setup works at keeping it over 73 and then it goes down at night to under 70 and my pex system comes on for just a few minutes. I think the key to having a Solar panel is making sure that the fish waters do not get hot via the flow. My flow is fast so I only get a few degrees when it passes rather than having it slow and the temps get to high and do something to the fish nutrients. I made it with CPVC with no copper and have it set almost vertical as a drain-back system for the winter and so it does not get to hot if it stagnates at all.

[Jim Fisk]

Hey Joe that sounds like a great system. I am just beginning to think Winter. Pex tied tight to the tote cage to transfer heat from a woodstove/heat loop was on my list of possibilities. Do you have pics? I ran 150 ft of hose on the ground today (we finally had sunshine) and that brought my 60 F well water up to 72F at a hard trickle. Flushing the high salt out of the BG tote.

[RupertofOZ]

Getting heat into a tank... during the day... isn't the problem....

 

Trying to heat the tank... at night... and keeping the heat in the tank... is the problem...

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Yeah, it does seem like finding a way to store  and then transfer the heat/energy for use when you need it most (night) appears to be the zinger in many solar based 'alternative heating' type systems...

I've linked some of these before on this topic...they seem pretty sweet, though I'm sure they cost a bit...especially the "electric blanket" type ones. Though the passive insulation jackets may be worth it when you put all your options and the subsequent costs down on paper. You could always build your own I suppose.

http://www.industrysearch.com.au/New-Insulated-Jacket-for-IBC/p/65155

http://www.heattracing.co.uk/product-details/ibc-heaters-%7C-ibc-he...

http://www.pensteel.co.uk/insulated.html

Here is one for the U.S... http://www.precisionibc.com/ecogard-products/accessories.aspx

[Jim Fisk]

Thanks for the links. Interesting but I think any tinkerer worth their salt can beat those prices by a mile. Solar storage can be very cheap and should be unless you are running a commercial op.. and even then there is the ever shrinking bottom line given our current fiscal crisis which is about to get a hell of a lot worse. I have used rock mass and water mass storage very successfully in the past and will apply that here once again along with cold species for the winter and wood heat bu.

[Bobby McGovern]

Jim, looking forward to hearing your ideas and learning some of your techniques.  The last thing any of us want to do is waste money unnecessarily.  

Jim Fisk said:

Thanks for the links. Interesting but I think any tinkerer worth their salt can beat those prices by a mile. Solar storage can be very cheap and should be unless you are running a commercial op.. and even then there is the ever shrinking bottom line given our current fiscal crisis which is about to get a hell of a lot worse. I have used rock mass and water mass storage very successfully in the past and will apply that here once again along with cold species for the winter and wood heat bu.

[Jim Fisk]

If you have or are building a gh (as I am) I would start by collecting 55gal barrels when ever you can. I will be placing about 10 in the front of my 24' gh starting today. I will try to post pics of progress. Steel absorbs best but obviously rots out eventually. Black pvc pipe and plastic fittings make a great passive hot water collector for FTs. and a wood stove with a simple in and out loop will heat storage like crazy. Too much pipe in the wood stove can be very dangerous. Found out the hard way:-) Very funny story there but too long for here.

If you can add rock wall or floor and paint it black you can store an amazing amount of heat that way as well. The more mass the better.

And Bobby I sent u a message.