Setting up a new tank - heating question

[jsanfilippo5]

I have been out of this hobby for a while - finally got into a new house and have the time to set something up again. I currently have stand/lights for a 36x18 size tank. BUT Thinking of going bigger this time around.

I am looking to put a 75 or 90 gallon in my basement. it gets pretty cold down here in the winter - I never really saw it drop below 50 down here on the coldest nights - but I am wondering how many heaters or wattage I may need for this much water..

 

[jsanfilippo5]

I just dug out 2 100w submersibles that I had.

 

[John76]

In my opinion you should really go higher , I live on the beach and always keep my windows cracked , I have a 300 watt in my 75 and a 200 in the 40 gallon sump

 

[jd371]

I have a 300watt in my 75g but the room it's in always stays around room temperature and never dips below 68. I agree with the above post if the temp drops to the 50's in that room I would go with a bigger heater.

 

[reefiness]

50 is pretty dang cold. It is probably going to cost you a bunch to keep that tank up to temp in the winter. I would maybe recommend getting a tank with glass tops which should help you keep your heat in the tank especially in the winter....

as for heater wattage, I have become pretty fond of the finnex deluxe titanium heaters because of their higher wattage to size ratio compared to many other makers. This lets you pack a nice high wattage heater in a pretty small space. I would recommend their 500w for your system to start. May even need to add in something above that which I guess can be where your 2x 100w heaters can come into play.

 

[reefiness]

Also, I had helped my cousin set up a fish tank in his unfinished/unheated basement and he ended up needing about 800 watts of heat to keep an uncovered 120g tank and trigger sump up to temperature. He quickly decided the cost of heating the tank in the winter was a deal breaker and sold it off.... so just keep that in mind.

 

[jsanfilippo5]

Maybe I should stay smaller than.. or look into heating this room.

 

[jsanfilippo5]

I just check my rom thermometer - It has a memory on where it remember the lowest temperature in the past 6 months.. So my coldest temp the basement has seen this year is 59 degrees. It shows my average 67.

 

[Dre]

Buy two new 200 watts heater. You can run your tank 62-65 degrees in the winter months. I have.

 

[jsanfilippo5]

I am thinking of going fish only with live rock. Those temps would be safe from say late November to April? Sounds iffy...