DIY tank heaters

cainman21

What are some of the ways y'all heat the water up what kinda heaters
Thanks

MidOhioHydrographics

Just search around. Lots of info on tank heat. Usually water heater elements on a thermostat.

airtimegrafix

diy tank section

jfrits98

I used two fish tank heaters 

airtimegrafix

fish tank heater aint gona do it! they don't get hot enough

MILLZ

yeah I don't think fish tank heaters will work, unless your using a tiny tank, but even then I don't know if they get hot enough

airtimegrafix

they wont get water to 90 deg in a tank big enough to dip anything

jfrits98

They keep my tank within 2 degrees of 90. I got 100 gallon homemade tank and they work fine for me. 

jfrits98

I'm using two 300 watt heater that are made for tanks 75-120 gallons. 

airtimegrafix

oh! I was thinkn your using little ones! my bad

airtimegrafix

i use two 4500 what water heater elements 220 volt

jfrits98

It's cool, I'm thinking about adding a third one. 

airtimegrafix

water heater elements more than likely heat up th water way faster

jfrits98

I thought about using one but I'm not wanting to spend a bunch of money til I get the craft down. I know the elements aren't to expensive but setting up 220 in my garage would be. plus I'm afraid of them melting my tank since it's made out of a old deep freezer

jfrits98

Ya they would. It tank my fish tank heaters a couple days to heat the water up to 90 degrees 

beven06

My DIY tank is made from a fiberglass bathtub, I'm thinking elements wouldn't be a good idea, what do you think? I was thinkin of either fish tank heaters or a few bucket heaters

KCGUY

I just got me 2 - 500W fish heaters, cant wait to see....

jcann

1000watt titanium pond heater works great my tank is 300 gallon warms it up no problem 

reddog66

I have a fiberglass tank with a 120v element. I cut a section out of an old hotwater heater where the element screws in and flattened it. Then I cut a smaller section out of my tank and glued it in.

mws1982

i use a fish tank heater 1500W it gets my 300 gallon tank to 95

jtaglia

I just bought 2-5000 watt heaters on Amazon for my new tank. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

airtimegrafix

jtaglia said:

I just bought 2-5000 watt heaters on Amazon for my new tank. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

about!

jtaglia

airtimegrafix said:

jtaglia said:

I just bought 2-5000 watt heaters on Amazon for my new tank. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

about!

About, if you think the 2-5000 watt heaters will be too much to run at the same time, or just do one.

airtimegrafix

depends on the size of wire and breaker
goin to the elements from your box?

MidOhioHydrographics

My LP tank has one 6000w heater. It's about 525 gallons. I'm not exactly sure how long it takes to get up to temp, but when I drain the tank to clean it, it's back up to temp by the next morning. My element also started going bad, and the way mine is configured (3 individual 2000w element loops, each with jumpers on the terminal end so they are connected in parallel) I was able to just disconnect the bad element, and run off 4000w while the replacement was on the way. It worked fine also.

Marc

2 5000 watt heaters will require 41.6 amps @ 240v, then you have to figure 125% of the 41.6 for continuous duty. That works out to 52 amps. You will need a 60 amp breaker and #6 awg copper wire for this installation. Don't forget to figure in the load of the pump and controller as well.

jtaglia

Just got the heating elements in, oops I ordered 2-5500 watt heaters. Guess I screwed up, oh well I'll use one of them & go from there.

Baggertom

I have a IBC 275 gallon tank converted. I'm using a heater off my old hot tub. works great! only issue was I had to buy a $20.00 pump from Harbor Freight to pump the water through the heater. I use the discharge pressure to also flush the activator across the water, kind of a dual purpose pump. the water heats up at about 5 degrees an hour...

UptonSpoon

Baggertom said:

I have a IBC 275 gallon tank converted. I'm using a heater off my old hot tub. works great! only issue was I had to buy a $20.00 pump from Harbor Freight to pump the water through the heater. I use the discharge pressure to also flush the activator across the water, kind of a dual purpose pump. the water heats up at about 5 degrees an hour...

Can you post a picture of that so I can understand what you mean please?

BadAce31

My tank is 200 gallons. What size heating elements should I use and how would I got about wiring them like a hot water tank?

MidOhioHydrographics

@BadAce31 my tank is 525 gallons and I have one 6000w heating element.

For your second question? If you have to ask that, you probably shouldn't be doing it yourself.

Putting your hands into a tank or 200 gallons of water with 30 amps of 220v power isn't something to mess around with.