I'm only a few months away from setting up my monster tank now (300g tropical, 8' x 3' x 2'), and I'm trying to figure ways to keep the cost down.
The new tank is going to be in my new kitchen, directly facing (but 16 feet away from) the back door. All windows/doors are double glazed.
What i'm thinking is sitting the tank on 1" of polystyrene for insulation; the back and ends will have insulation from inside, as I'm going to make a background from polystyrene and expanding foam (fish-safe stuff). Will this be enough to conserve heat and save me having to heat the tank? I could put a sheet under the lid too, that would hold heat in from the lights as well, although they are only going to be two 18" bulbs.
Alternatively, what's the minimum wattage heater I could get away with? I usually go with 5W per gallon, but I reckon I could take it down quite a bit; right now I have a tropical tank sitting in an uninsulated shed at the end of my garden that is held nicely at 24C by a 300W heater (40g tank), through the night as well.
The new tank is going to be in my new kitchen, directly facing (but 16 feet away from) the back door. All windows/doors are double glazed.
What i'm thinking is sitting the tank on 1" of polystyrene for insulation; the back and ends will have insulation from inside, as I'm going to make a background from polystyrene and expanding foam (fish-safe stuff). Will this be enough to conserve heat and save me having to heat the tank? I could put a sheet under the lid too, that would hold heat in from the lights as well, although they are only going to be two 18" bulbs.
Alternatively, what's the minimum wattage heater I could get away with? I usually go with 5W per gallon, but I reckon I could take it down quite a bit; right now I have a tropical tank sitting in an uninsulated shed at the end of my garden that is held nicely at 24C by a 300W heater (40g tank), through the night as well.
Not sure what the avg. room temp. would be but you might want to check this