2,000 gallon set up

Kyle Dawson · Jan 20, 2018

Hi everyone, i recently bought a house that hasn't been built just yet. I had an idea about using a gas hot water heater and found a video of 1 of the members here. Just wanted to see if anyone could help me with ideas on how to use gas to heat my 2 2,000 gallon aquariums?
Any advice or help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Kyle

Crabs McJones · Jan 20, 2018

Kyle Dawson said:
Hi everyone, i recently bought a house that hasn't been built just yet. I had an idea about using a gas hot water heater and found a video of 1 of the members here. Just wanted to see if anyone could help me with ideas on how to use gas to heat my 2 2,000 gallon aquariums?
Any advice or help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Kyle

Welcome to R2R!!

welcome12_af875eaa887ed91c39e4c81c7d4fd966-0ed06ab93ea565647147c6beddbca4eb.gif

Not sure on your heating question, but hopefully another member will post with what you're looking for.

aquaman30k · Jan 20, 2018

Welcome to R2R!

Check out titanium heat exchangers to use with the gas water heater and the aquariums. Many owners with larger tanks use them as a more efficient way of heating larger systems. They can be uses as a closed loop system or a secondary system off the primary home water heater.

sundog101 · Jan 20, 2018

A lot use gas water heaters like described above.

Pool heat pumps would be an interesting option, but I haven’t seen them used much at all.

Kyle Dawson · Jan 20, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Welcome to R2R!!

Not sure on your heating question, but hopefully another member will post with what you're looking for.

Thank you!

Kyle Dawson · Jan 20, 2018

aquaman30k said:
Welcome to R2R!

Check out titanium heat exchangers to use with the gas water heater and the aquariums. Many owners with larger tanks use them as a more efficient way of heating larger systems. They can be uses as a closed loop system or a secondary system off the primary home water heater.

Ok I will definitely look into that. Thanks

sneub · Jan 20, 2018

Welcome aboard, you should post your build and get a shiny new badge! Lots of folks like to follow along.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks.52/

Mystical_Knight · Jan 20, 2018

I would reach out to bill wann if you can, he is heating his monster reef with a gas furnace, I think you have to replace the pipes with titanium though. Looking forward to seeing your build!

Kyle Dawson · Jan 20, 2018

sneub said:
Welcome aboard, you should post your build and get a shiny new badge! Lots of folks like to follow along.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks.52/

I will definitely do that..thank you.

Kyle Dawson · Jan 20, 2018

Mystical_Knight said:
I would reach out to bill wann if you can, he is heating his monster reef with a gas furnace, I think you have to replace the pipes with titanium though. Looking forward to seeing your build!

Ok will do. Thank you

CoralCache · Jan 20, 2018

I have been building chillers and heat pumps for many years for aquariums.
What part of the country are you in and how cold does it get where you are?
I have several 2000ish gallon heat pumps running in Florida.

Kyle Dawson · Jan 21, 2018

I live in northern virginia. It gets fairly cold but nothing too extreme. Here's a couple pics of both tanks.

Skynyrd Fish · Jan 21, 2018

Those are sweet!

Kyle Dawson · Jan 22, 2018

Skynyrd Fish said:
Those are sweet!

Thank you

DBR_Reef · Jan 22, 2018

CoralCache said:
I have been building chillers and heat pumps for many years for aquariums.
What part of the country are you in and how cold does it get where you are?
I have several 2000ish gallon heat pumps running in Florida.

I suggested that he look into a heat pump, but was unsure if it would be enough heat. I thought maybe a modified mini split would work. Or are there better ways of building them?

AlexG · Jan 22, 2018

My system totals ~1600 gallons and I use a PEX heating loop off of the natural gas hot water heater in my home. I have made a few videos about the heating setup I am using which can be found here: I find that this system has been working well and definitely saves a lot of $$$ compared to electric heating.

CoralCache · Jan 22, 2018

Good video AlexG. I will have to look up the others you made after.

DBR_Reef · Jan 22, 2018

AlexG said:
My system totals ~1600 gallons and I use a PEX heating loop off of the natural gas hot water heater in my home. I have made a few videos about the heating setup I am using which can be found here: I find that this system has been working well and definitely saves a lot of $$$ compared to electric heating.

I prefer using titanium instead of pex for a few reasons, but the systems do work really well- I run one myself. But a heat pump should be just as cost effective and should be able to cool as well.

CoralCache · Jan 22, 2018

Most heat pumps are good down to around 28 degrees F. Lower and there just isn't enough heat in the air. Some of the mini splits claim to be able to work much lower. I am not sure if the variable speed compressors make this possible or not. I don't generally like mini splits since the materials used are pretty marginal.