Kessil

Winter preparations or changes

Vhuang168

Vhuang168

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Do any of you do anything different on the tank for the winter?

I've been slowly lowering the temp in the tank from a high of 78 to 76. Its currently at 77.5. Doesn't sound like much but the heaters don't have to stay on as long and since my tank is in the garage, it does make a difference in energy used.
 
My electrical bill has definitely gone up. Need to watch that. But my tank is indoor. And my wife insists on the home being warmer now with the baby. Had a heater on in the detached garage for my TTM that probably didn't help.
 
Calde0920 said:
What about power outages what do you guys use to keep at least a powerhead going?
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I got the ecotech battery backup on Black Friday which can keep a powerhead running for awhile. I don't remember the last time there was a prolonged outtage where I live. Maybe next big earthquake. *knock on wood*
 
Gablami said:
My electrical bill has definitely gone up. Need to watch that. But my tank is indoor. And my wife insists on the home being warmer now with the baby. Had a heater on in the detached garage for my TTM that probably didn't help.
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Ditto... except for the tank being in the main living space... I wish I could pull that, but I live in San Francisco, and as much as I'd love for the tank to be a major focal point of living room (seriously, why do I need a fireplace? 9 days out of 10 it's some stupid "spare the air" bullshit!), my wife probably wouldn't let me have it upstairs... at least a big tank!
 
Just put back in my 2nd heater. I think I ran 3 at one point, but 2 seems to be fine for now. My Apex keeps tank at 76.5 to 77.5 rollercoaster all night until halides turn on.
 
I've had my 90g running for a few days now. My Kill-a-watt meter is definitely showing some pretty significant power use keeping the tank warm, and I suspect that is from the daytime and night when the Nest turns down the temperature.
Evaporation is also quite a lot more than I thought. Probably 2-3 L per day. I think I'm going to have to partly cover the tank.

Good idea on wrapping the tank though! I think I'll look into getting some rigid insulation panels to wrap the tank at night.
 
Being able to see the wattage throughout the day on the apex is really insightful. My heaters use up the most power by far right now. They come on for about an hour and a half every 4-5 hours and they are 200 watts each. We keep our house set at 66 degrees 24 hours a day and right now the tank is only set to 72-73 degrees since I'm only cycling it right now.
 
Found this one a Minnesota newspaper article:

The following list, supplied by the Minnesota Department of Public Service, is based on a double-glazed window and an indoor temperature of 70 degrees. You will notice that the lower the outdoor temperature, the lower the indoor humidity should be.

• If outside temperature is 20 to 40 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 40 percent.

• If outside temperature is 10 to 20 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 35 percent.

• If outside temperature is 0 to 10 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 30 percent.

• If outside temperature is 10-below to 0, humidity indoors should not be more than 25 percent.

• If outside temperature is 20-below to 10-below, humidity indoors should not be more than 20 percent.

• If outdoor temperature is lower than 20-below, inside humidity should not be more than 15 percent.

If you are building a home or remodeling, demand high-quality windows. They should have U-values of 0.35 or less. Such windows are less prone to cold-weather condensation and icing, which means that indoor humidity can be higher.
 
During the winter I put a clear plexiglass cover over the tank instead of just a net. My house heater is at about ~64 and the one heater I have ( 150 or 200) doesn't have enough juice to keep it from dipping. I keep my tank pretty cold to begin with though, 75-76.8 year round.

When I had garage tanks I put pipe insulation around the hoses (actually do this for the house tank too) and reflectix insulation around the back and sides of the aquarium.

such as this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflecti...-Insulation-with-Staple-Tab-ST16025/100012574

I used Insulation tape to hold it against the tanks.
 
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Tenny said:
During the winter I put a clear plexiglass cover over the tank instead of just a net. My house heater is at about ~64 and the one heater I have ( 150 or 200) doesn't have enough juice to keep it from dipping. I keep my tank pretty cold to begin with though, 75-76.8 year round.

When I had garage tanks I put pipe insulation around the hoses (actually do this for the house tank too) and around the back and sides of the aquarium.
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I've been thinking of doing this as well.

I also wonder if putting a thin panel of acrylic about an inch away from the glass would help insulate by creating an air gap.

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tygunn said:
I've been thinking of doing this as well.

I also wonder if putting a thin panel of acrylic about an inch away from the glass would help insulate by creating an air gap.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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Whoops didn't say what I did to the outside of the tank... A thin panel would help, air is a great insulator but doing that would be pretty difficult I'd have to imagine.

On the outside of the garage tanks I put a layer of insulation like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflecti...-Insulation-with-Staple-Tab-ST16025/100012574

I think it helped a fair amount. I don't have any empirical data to prove it though.
 
If you are running an APEX system, track power consumption one day/ night compared to another without the insulation. It should give you a general picture of the effectiveness. I'd be interested in the results...

Jim
 
Tenny said:
Whoops didn't say what I did to the outside of the tank... A thin panel would help, air is a great insulator but doing that would be pretty difficult I'd have to imagine.

On the outside of the garage tanks I put a layer of insulation like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflecti...-Insulation-with-Staple-Tab-ST16025/100012574

I think it helped a fair amount. I don't have any empirical data to prove it though.
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I figure I could just make panels that hang over the rim of the tank.

I picked up a sheet of thin acrylic from home depot as a top -- I'll see how covering it helps and go from there. Just reducing evaporation should cut energy load a lot.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
tygunn said:
I figure I could just make panels that hang over the rim of the tank.

I picked up a sheet of thin acrylic from home depot as a top -- I'll see how covering it helps and go from there. Just reducing evaporation should cut energy load a lot.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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I'd go w glass lids. Acrylic will bend and be annoying
 
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