Can you get energy saving tropical aquatics heaters?

[Shanerwood]

I'm trying to save energy in our home. We've switched to energy saving light bulbs and i wondered if there's an energy saving heater about. Does anyone know if there is?

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

[effox]

The only way I know of to save energy is to get rid of the aquarium, they're definitely energy wasters.

[gklaw]

There is no way you can save energy from heater. Lighting save energy by keeping the waste in the form of heat generated. A heater generate heat that 100% goes to the water.

Well, technically there is some energy loss in the glow of the heating element

[TomC]

About the only way is to insulate the ends and back of your tank. Or maybe keep cool water fish.

[tony1928]

I think aquarium heaters are just about as efficient as you can get. All the heat generated goes right into the water. Acrylic tanks would help due to the natural insulating factor of acrylic over glass. If you want, you could insulate as others have said. Slap some sheet foam on the back and the sides. Keep the glass tops closed as much as you can.

Goldfish = no heaters needed I think. LOL.

[Ursus sapien]

About the only way is to insulate the ends and back of your tank. Or maybe keep cool water fish.

Tom makes a good point. By "skinning" my shelves (I used coroplast since it's lightweight and easy to work with) the tanks loose less heat to the room. As importantly, enclosing the tanks stopped drafts from hitting and chilling the glass.

If you're running a canister filter, try using an inline heater. I think they're more efficient.

[fan4guppy]

I'm trying to save energy in our home. We've switched to energy saving light bulbs and i wondered if there's an energy saving heater about. Does anyone know if there is?

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

In massive set ups there are ways of saving electronical energy but for small aquarium users nothing really will help with the heating bill.

A wholesaler that i know of uses building heat instead of heaters in the aquariums. The room temperature is quite high and most employees work with their shirts off, its quite a tropical surrounding with tropical plants in the decor of the room.

However for normal use of that room, it is quite unconfortable considering the heat of the room but it does save on the electrical bill.

There is also a way of heating sumps with heaters and having the water flow from aquarium to aquarium through this form of filtration. This is along the line of what ursus is saying with an inline heating but it is a different type of set up and unless you have a quarantining area for new fish (The CON involved in these setups) then you would be battling parasites and bacteria issues within that set up.

Not the best for Pet Shops or people that like to make additions but for established breeders it can save money.

[tony1928]

I have an unusual setup in my house where my boiler for heat is electric. I am finding that is pretty expensive now as electricity has started to become more expensive than gas. In past years, gas was super expensive compared to electricity but that commodity market has shifted in opposite directions. Anyhow, I think that if you keep your room heated to close to where you want your tanks at, your heaters won't need to come on much to maintain water temperature. Your tanks act as big heaters for your room if your room temp is on the cold side.

[jkcichlid]

I noticed when I ran my heaters inline they became "more efficient"

Sitting in the tank they were set to 27 deg and held the tank (2-150W in a 50G) at 27 deg. Once they were installed in a DIY PVC manifold, at the same temp setting, the tank temp was 30 - 30.5 deg.

[Ursus sapien]

I noticed when I ran my heaters inline they became "more efficient"

agreed. they seem more reliable, too.