Stepod72 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hi all, I have 2 reef systems running in my garage, both holding approximately 1200 litres each. Being only new to the hobby I am trying to find out new ways to minimize heat loss ( I can't insulate the garage just yet).Does anyone have some handy hints?At the moment I'm trying to use more smaller heaters in more tanks as apposed to putting a couple of 300watt heaters in the sump.Cheers,Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcloughlin2 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Have you covered the sides of tanks with foam and wrapped any plumbing with something with insulative properties (I've used bubble wrap on the plumbing on single tank because it was laying around and it seemed to work). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 I've got the foam around most tanks including the reef, insulating the plumbing seems a good idea... I'll give that a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Dave Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 You might care to throw a blanket or two over them when no-one is around.I cover my garage tanks (& lights) every night.Works for me ! hth,Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankenstrat Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 I'd like to say I have a solution but I just add more heaters and moan about the electricity bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Thanks for the tip Dave, I've got some thick felt which will do the job nicely.The temp in the tanks are sitting on 24 with 2 300 watt heaters turned up full, I'll have a look in the morning to see how it went.Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Lol..... That's what I'm afraid of, the dreaded power bill, I'll never hear the end of it when my wife see's it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankenstrat Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 I'm up to 6x 300W heaters, 1x 18000 lph sump pump, 2x 2500 lph canister filters and 3x 4 way air pumps running sponge filters, and a couple of internal power head filters plus lights, I'll blame the bill on the missus and her clothes drier. Hopefully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 I can't blame my wife for things like that, she already knows it's going to be a high bill, she tells me that she is to afraid to use anything that uses power at the moment.The felt over the tanks seem to work well, the water temp has gone up 1 degree over night and should go up during the day aswell.Thanks to all for the helpful tipsCheers,Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAL05T Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 For the insulated plumbing I bought the black stuff from bunnings, split it and wrapped it around. the next time I set one up I am going to dry fit all my pipework, then pull it apart, cut the lengths of foan tube down to size and slip it on to the pvc before I glue it all together. Damn hindsight, it's always 20:20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firthy13 Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Thanks for the tip Dave, I've got some thick felt which will do the job nicely.The temp in the tanks are sitting on 24 with 2 300 watt heaters turned up full, I'll have a look in the morning to see how it went.Cheers,what brand heaters are they? sound like you could need to upgrade to eheim jagers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 I've been told that by a few breeders, I have just borrowed a 300watt jäger to help a 300watt fluval in my frontosa rack and it has done a very good job heating up the system.I might have to get a couple for the other system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAL05T Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Shame you just missed out on Ben's deal of the day from AOA. I bought 4 of the 300w EJ's. Only heater I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 I might get a couple, damn good heatersGuppys aquariums have them for $55. I've got up make a trip to bunnings to get the foam for the water pipes...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 send Ben at AOA a pm or email and ask if he can do a price for youbecause you missed the heaters sale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Might be a silly question but do you have lids on your sump? Making sure they're properly covered will help out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 cheers chris thanks for that, will do.thats alright, not a silly question about the lids at all skippy.i do have lids on everything including the sump. We had a warm day today so its given the heaters a bit of a break and has put the temp up to where i want them......23 for the fronnys and 27 for the malawi and tangs.Ive taken on board all the advice and put it all in practice on my systems so maintaining the temperature should be a bit easier.Just out of interests sake, before i started doing all this to get the water temp right i took the temperature (with a heat gun) of the water in the sump and it was sitting on 24 degrees, by the time it was pumped up to the top tanks (roughly 2 metres high and the water is going through polypipe) the water had dropped 11/2 degrees and when it went down to the next tier it had dropped another 1 degree.I have a 4ft tank sitting 130mm of the groung next to the sump with a 300w fluval and another 300w in the sump. It doesnt sound like much loosing 21/2 degrees but as im learning its alot when its not even winter yet.The 300w eheim jager heaters outclass the 300w fluvals by a long shot in regards to heating the water and most importantly running time.cheers,Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzagfish Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Hi SteveIm glad the heater its doing it job cant go wrong with the jagers specialy as they have a very long element and stays warmer for longer time and dont come on as oftern compare to the short element heaters , they are worth the extra money .CheersLionel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Thanks heaps for lending it to me Lionell, very much appreciated. I should be able to return it to you when I get mine hopefully today.Does anyone want to buy a couple of fluvals?......lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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