Reservoir cooling/heating

[Aerojoe]

I've recently been heating up my reservoirs w/ an aquarium heater because they sit on the floor and it makes them very cold(50's), I'm currently running a tray system and a bucket system. Neither of the systems feed constantly and I'm running a fairly high wattage heater. I've been trying to save money on electrical as well as increase efficiency by setting the heaters on timers so that the heaters don't fire up till about hour or so before the systems feed and turns off shortly after there last feeding..
I've been wondering if I'm getting the full benefit of the heaters by doing it this way, or will beneficial bacterias be harmed(I was thinking most of them have colonized in the root zone and the ones in water wouldn't live long anyway)by my cheapness? Anyone else use the heaters this way on non continous feed systems or do most just leave them on 24/7? Any opinions and advice welcome.

 

[fishwhistle]

This is what i did when i had the same problem,I built a short wooden(like 6'' high) platform to get my res up off the floor and under it i stuffed in insulation and then i wrapped the res with reflectix kind of like you do with a water heater blanket.It makes a huge difference and it retains warmth in winter,in summer i really dont even need the heater at all.

 

[cctt]

Water has a very high specific heat (1 cal/gram*C deg) so you won't be able to effectively heat it all quickly or using much less energy. I agree about getting it off your cold floor. I've set them on pieces of insulating foam before with good results.