How can I heat my tank?

[Shnabbles]

I know sounds like a silly question but I have a 180 with the sump and fuge in the basement where its just naturally colder in the winter but i do have the house heat on down there... i have 3 300 watt (i think) heaters in the sump but they just arent enough in the winter months to keep the tank warm.... tank temp is mid to low 70s..

I have T5 bulbs so they arent giving me any or very little heat.

[Jflip2002]

how bout... a larger heater?

[flyyyguy]

if you seriously have 3-300 watt heaters running, and cannot maintain the temp however hot you want it in a 180 gallon tank...........something is awry no matter how cool you keep that basement, and/or your heaters are simply broken.

or maybe you have a chiller stuck in the cooling mode ??

I will also say that with that many heaters running, I hope you have them on a controller as that is a potential disaster waiting to happen if they are not controlled by something other than themselves

[Shnabbles]

tank is 180 but i have a fuge and a sump with an additional 50 gallons each in them.... that plus 20+ feet of 2 inch pvc pipe..i estimate close to 300 gallons total water volume..... i grabbed the heaters today they are definently on.

I have no chiller

[thecoralreefer]

You copuld always put some lighting above the sumps
or install radiant heat in the basement floor LOL

[Shnabbles]

its got to be the sump and fuge sitting on the cold basement floor that keeps the temp down.... i should probally try to put some 2x4s under them or something.

[flyyyguy]

are you sure they are 300 w heaters??

[dkh0331]

I have about 180 gallons total with a basement sump, first floor DT. Sump sits directly on the basement floor. Two 500 W titanium Finnex heaters controlled by a Ranco controller keeps my tank at 80.

[mikeatjac]

Put some insulation around your sump and your return and drain pipes. Works for me.

[Shnabbles]

So at 180 gallons and 1000 watts of heat keeping you at 80 degrees then almost 300 gallons with 900 watts of heat keeping me at maybe 72 degrees makes some sence.. maybe i should ditch the 300 watters and get 3 500 watters

[Dave VG]

What kind of thermometer are you using? Double check it to be sure its showing the right temp. Three 300 watt heaters should be more than enough to heat it. As flyyyguy said you may want to get them on a controller.

[thecoralreefer]

good plan what about the electric bill ???

[James77]

Originally posted by mikeatjac
Put some insulation around your sump and your return and drain pipes. Works for me.

I had the same problem with having to use 3-4 300 watt heaters due to a cool basement. I did the same as above, insulating three sides of my sump. I used the yellow tube wrap insulation on all my return lines and drain. I also switched my return pump to a Velocity T3- if you are going to use the watts, then may as well have them help heat the water.

[Hop]

Originally posted by Shnabbles
tank is 180 but i have a fuge and a sump with an additional 50 gallons each in them.... that plus 20+ feet of 2 inch pvc pipe..i estimate close to 300 gallons total water volume..... i grabbed the heaters today they are definently on.

I have no chiller

I have a 190, with 100 gallon sump and 40 gallon fuge. I run 1, yes 1 300 watt heater to maintain the tank at 78.1. This heater is in the overflow. I then have a second 300 watt heater in the wetroom that kicks on if the first heater can't keep up and the tank drops below 77.9, but it rarely kicks on. My wetroom often drops into the upper 50s during the winter and there is no heat in that room.

Have you checked the temp between the tank and the sump? I could see how there could be a difference, but 900 watts of heat should be able to not only keep up, but boil your tank if you wanted to

[Slakker]

Originally posted by Shnabbles
I have T5 bulbs so they arent giving me any or very little heat.

Same heat:watt ratio as halides spread over larger surface area.

[James77]

Originally posted by Slakker
Same heat:watt ratio as halides spread over larger surface area.

Yes, but most of the time less watts are used to cover the tank with T5's than are used with metal halides/supps. Add to that that T5's are required to be cooled to get the best performance means any heat is blown away from the aquarium.