# Tank insulation=lower hydro bill?



## Treasure chest (Apr 21, 2010)

Just wondering if anyone here does this? If you insulate 3 walls of the tank with styrofoam or alike. Will this help much reducing the heating bill for the tank in winter? I have a 50G which is set 5C higher then the room temp in winter.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Either way, the heat is within the envelop of your house. Heat the tank to heat the house or heat the house.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

The lights from my metal halide unit help heat my home. I almost never turn on the heat (natural gas) except for on the coldest days of the winter. Overnight my place cools off, but the tanks have heaters and the humans have down quilts

I imagine insulating the tank would be effective, but mainly if you add a front and top panel to really prevent easy heat loss. Otherwise the heat will simply leave from the uninsulated sides (top & front), although the loss will be slower.

The problem is that this solution is not visually attractive and the additional panels will require daily efforts to put on and take off those front and top panels.

My friend in Powell River has his sump in a fully insulated box outside on his porch and it works great with minimal heat loss.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

On a 50G tank, you probably wouldn't notice a measurable difference in hydro costs. Keep the tank lids on tight will help with evaporating cooling. The hassle with attaching foam to the tank wouldn't be worth it imo....not to mention it being visually unappealing. My $0.02.


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## Treasure chest (Apr 21, 2010)

All good points. Thanks.:lol:


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

The term "Fugly" comes to mind when considering encasing my display tanks in styrofoam sheets. To be honest, if I'm that strapped for cash that I need to go to this extreme, I would shut down the tank since my wife would complain how ugly it is to have a tank covered with styrofoam sheets in your livingroom.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Haha, I believe that is the correct technical term.

Only time I've seen it is in a garage fish room where there's fairly extreme heat loss due to having a dozen 6 foot tanks and an uninsulated garage.



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> The term "Fugly" comes to mind when considering encasing my display tanks in styrofoam sheets. To be honest, if I'm that strapped for cash that I need to go to this extreme, I would shut down the tank since my wife would complain how ugly it is to have a tank covered with styrofoam sheets in your livingroom.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

the difference in my Hydro bill from before I got tankitis is $250 more than when I had no fish tanks.

2009 no tanks 
2010 15 tanks yes they keep the fish room warm.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Treasure chest said:


> Just wondering if anyone here does this? If you insulate 3 walls of the tank with styrofoam or alike. Will this help much reducing the heating bill for the tank in winter? I have a 50G which is set 5C higher then the room temp in winter.


You kidding right? I sure as heck don't do this. Why would I styrofoam my tank to save a few bucks in utility costs? This will not reduce the heating bill as much if you keep a close lid to reduce evaporation. 50G is a lot of water volume. Room temperature should be around ~20°C or so. So what you're doing right now should be suffice. This hobby is about incurring costs.

"if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" - Gordon Ramsey


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## Treasure chest (Apr 21, 2010)

The reason I have this idea is that we do not use living room too much, so in the winter we usually do not heat it up too much and temperature differential could be greater the 5C. I am trying to be green at the same time save a few bucks. Anyway, my tank is actually a corner tank so I do not see the 2 sides if I install the foam properly, but seems it may be just not worth the effort as everyone suggested.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

When I was setting up my large tanks in my sun room I bought a sheet of 1" Thermax" the equivalent to blue Styrofoam with an aluminum foil on both sides.
I put it on the walls behind the 80 gallon and 75 gallon tanks in the sun room and behind the 40 gallon in my garage.
I'm assuming it saves some of the heat although admittedly heat rises so most heat loss is though the top especially with the agitated water surface.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

In theory, the heat loss will be by radiating through the warm glass to the air around. As pointed out though, the majority of heat loss likely will be through evaporation of the warmer water. Control that will control most of he heat loss. But in the winter air is dry, so humidity actaully make the house more comfortable as well 

Mike's option with the metal foil against the back of the tank may look good actually. I put mirror foils on a couple of my tanks to make them look bigger.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

gklaw said:


> I put mirror foils on a couple of my tanks to make them look bigger.


Yes, make the "tanks" look bigger, eh Gordon.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Now I'll have to give myself an infraction.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Am I missing something again Anthony   One of them is a 2 gallon wall aquarium that is less than 4" deep  The other one was a frag grow out tank which I want all the light to reflect back even from the back glass as well.

No space for big ones like yours so have to make them look bigger


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