Heaters vs The Winter

[kittenbritches]

It's my first winter tending the tank (65g total water volume), and Utah gets cold.

It is 25° this morning, and last night it dropped to 65° in the house. So of course I woke up to a low temp alert on the ol' inkbird. My question is: do I need to keep my house warmer at night, or should I increase the max temp on the controller? I don't know if two 100 watt heaters in the overflow can offset a cold house. Should I drop a third heater in? I imagine that's significantly less expensive over the next four months than cranking the heat at night.

Thoughts? Experience? Advice?

 

[New&no clue]

I have four heaters running in the winter because Maine is COLD! And unfortunately, my sump is in my basement, which is always colder than the upstairs. I agree with the cost approach. Adding heaters are less expensive than the heating cost for the entire house. I would recommend having heaters on controllers, especially when you've added more in; more heaters mean an increased chance of failure.

 

[Gtinnel]

Increasing the temp on the inkbird won't help. Your heaters should have already been running the whole time and unable to keep the temp up.

You can either raise the temp in the house or get bigger/more heater(s).

ETA- I have an outside air intake for my skimmer so when it gets cold outside it makes a big difference in my tank. To keep my tank at temp I run about twice the wattage of heaters than I would need if I didn't have the outside air intake.

 

[bmkid1997]

Id second the stronger/more heaters. living in Wisconsin it gets cold, but we have our around low 70s and runs just fine. I do have glass lid which does keep some heat in though, could be a potential add on for time being.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Definitely grab one more heater! Multiple heaters are better anyway and for sure during the winter months!

This sounds like a QOTD topic!

 

[MillennialReefer]

I covered my tank with a 1/4 inch plexi glass, and keeps the temp pretty stable. The lights still penetrate to the corals just fine.

 

[Lyss]

This is probably out of left field but I have a crazy amount of houseplants that produce humidity and help to keep temps up indoors -- both day and night b/c I have quite the collection of tropicals in addition to cacti and succulents. So far my tank is def running a tad lower than summer but has been steady at 77.6, so my heater is working as it should. I'm thinking of raising the temp on the heater to 79 (rn it's set to 78 which in reality = 77.6) and getting a glass lid.

 

[littlebeard]

Hard to give the best answer without knowing everything about your house. Some of the issues with adding more/larger heaters is that they tend to be electricity hogs, and you might end up flipping the breakers on that circuit.

Adding more heaters or swapping for larger one is required if the house does drop that low. Many heaters say what they are rated to raise the water temperature by for x volume.

Another option, not sure it is available to you, is to heat just that room by changing the dampers in your house to force more warm air into that room.

Covering the top of the tank with glass will help prevent evaporation and the cooling process associated with it.

 

[kittenbritches]

I would recommend having heaters on controllers, especially when you've added more in; more heaters mean an increased chance of failure.

The good news is I've got a 200 watt Eheim Jager and inkbird on the 40B that I'm about to retire. The bad news is that it's friggin huge and the only place I've got real estate for it is in the display.

This is probably out of left field but I have a crazy amount of houseplants that produce humidity and help to keep temps up indoors

I have tons of houseplants, too. I've moved most of them to my bedroom for better light, though. :/

Another option, not sure it is available to you, is to heat just that room by changing the dampers in your house to force more warm air into that room.

I wish I could! Downstairs is all open floorplan.

 

[LRT]

I have 3x300 watt heaters in both of my 80's. 2 are set at temp in sump and the other is set on ink bird controller at temp to come on and help out. Wouldnt believe how often ink bird kicks on to help out with ambient house temps between 60-70 all winter.
On top of that I have a small space heater set to come on in fish room if temps get lower than 75 to keep ambient temps stable in fish room itself. I hardly see a 1f swing in temp

 

[Dbichler]

I live in Wisconsin and only use 1 300 watt eheim Jager on my 210. Tank and sump in basement though temps always stable down there.

 

[kittenbritches]

Plopped another heater in the ol' tank this morning.

Happy Thanksgiving, cats and kittens!