lowbudget's thread about his power costs got me thinking a little bit. I'm from a cold-weather state where nothing reef-related goes in a garage except for empty Brutes between water changes, so heating a tank isn't a challenge unless you have a beast of a system and most of it is in the basement because if it's cold out, the furnace is cranking. So I'm hoping you guys can fill me in here a bit.
My plan is to have either a 150 or a 220 in the house (built-in with LEDs) with the sump in the garage. By the time this happens the garage will be insulated & sheetrocked. I've never done a split house/garage setup - how hard is that gonna be to try to heat this time of year if the system is 200-300g(ish) total? Think I'll be able to get away with just heating the sump and not the tank? (I know that depends on turnover, but in general?)
Until I read lowbudget's thread, I'd thought more about probably needing a chiller than I had about possibly needing a sump full of heaters.
My plan is to have either a 150 or a 220 in the house (built-in with LEDs) with the sump in the garage. By the time this happens the garage will be insulated & sheetrocked. I've never done a split house/garage setup - how hard is that gonna be to try to heat this time of year if the system is 200-300g(ish) total? Think I'll be able to get away with just heating the sump and not the tank? (I know that depends on turnover, but in general?)
Until I read lowbudget's thread, I'd thought more about probably needing a chiller than I had about possibly needing a sump full of heaters.
