This may sound crazy, but a lot of the things I say or write are borderline crazy. Most fish sold in pet stores are tropical fish. They need heated water. Goldfish are an exception to the rule. The exact temperature of the water necessary to maintain tropical fish may vary.
If you are looking to have a tank primarily for its use as a house heater, I recommend something easy like Neon Tetras, as maintaining fish tank with community fish that are hardy is going to be less labor intensive. We are all looking to save time! Also, it is a good idea not to buy rare fish because they sometimes come from either Africa or the Amazon, where they are in short supply in the wild.
It is such that fish tanks require heat. And, heaters run at a temperature that is hotter than the water, but it results in heating the water to probably at least a temperature where it can help heat a house. Having several fish tanks, like maybe one in each room might be able to heat a house, but even having one will almost certainly take a chunk out of a heating bill. That is, the heat a tank requires is probably higher than what you would normally keep the temperature of your house at, so what ends up happening is that the water in the fish tank ends up warming the house.
If you have a two story (or more) living space, I advise you to put the heating in the lowest parts of the house. Heat rises.
Many, if not most houses are heated by heating water. Hot water is hot water. However, fish tank hot water won’t enter a house quite as fast as it would if copper piping were used. In my opinion, fish tanks could be designed better, such that they could be both an aquarium and a house heater. For example, fish tank design could incorporate copper.
The most important part about having a heater is that they don’t require a lot of energy to operate. Most tropical fish tank heaters range from 50watts to 150watts of power. That is about the same as a light bulb. So, basically what I am saying is that you can add a lot of heat to your house for the cost of operating a light bulb. That is a good deal! Even 2 or more heaters, with a fan to blow over the surface in order to spread the heat is a good idea.
I haven’t seen tropical fish tanks optimized for house heating yet, and it is probably because most people that raise tropical fish to be sold in pet stores raise them in areas where it is warm enough year round that heaters are not required, but fish tanks could also be better designed, such that they assist in heating your house.
Next, there are ways of improving house heating if you have a fish tank.
1. Position the heater such that the water flow from the fish tank filter blows over it. A very small filter is capable of achieving this tank circulation effect. I have a mid-sized filter, which operates at 5watts. Even slightly increasing water circulation, and thus flow to the extremities of your tank it ensures that the heat can then leave the fish tank in an optimized way.
2. You might have low power fan (0.5amps or less) blowing over the surface of your aquarium, increasing the distribution of heat from your fish tank to the rest of the room.
3. Also, air bubblers can be of assistance, where a pump, pumps air into your aquarium for the fish to breath. That air will heat in the tank as it rises to the surface, and is released.
4. Then, there is the use of the fan that I used to spear the heat.
5. Lastly, don’t forget to clean your tank, as algae and debris will hold in precious heat, costing you money.
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