Best Ways to reduce power consuption?

[Fish Eat Fish]

think I may try one LED on a small tank just to test it out. And I guess I'll just get a few timers and set the lights to only be on during the evening when I can enjoy them and set the UVs to just be on Sat-Sun. Not much else I can do I suppose?

The wife seems to think it bumped the electric bill up $500 a month. Would be nice to not spend that $$ and save alittle.

no way should that be the case if everything on your tanks is working correctly

 

[King Edward]

I just set my wetdry on a timer switching on/off every 15mins...halve's the leccy bill. You americans and your ac...girls. we lived in Alsace and regularly had summer temps of 45 degrees C (113F). No one there has ac. My son was born in that heat, in a hospital without ac... When its hot, you should OPEN THE WINDOW and get an ice drink!!!!

 

[Mattyou]

I just set my wetdry on a timer switching on/off every 15mins...halve's the leccy bill. You americans and your ac...girls. we lived in Alsace and regularly had summer temps of 45 degrees C (113F). No one there has ac. My son was born in that heat, in a hospital without ac... When its hot, you should OPEN THE WINDOW and get an ice drink!!!!

We talking about Alsace in France? Did not know that region was so Hot in the summer. I keep my A/C set on 76 and pitty the fooo who has none to use. I grew up in Florida where it gets pretty warm and moist, and we had no A/C, and we didnt spend much time inside the house either, to freaking hot inside. I remember trying to fall asleep laying a wet sweat soaked sheats thinking, one day i will have an A/C......When its hot, you should set the A/C on 74 if 76 isnt doing it for you.

 

[BushFishRox]

no way should that be the case if everything on your tanks is working correctly

maybe someone is stealing power from you, because there might be a slight increase from running an aquarium but nothing like that...

Or there maybe a short somewhere constantly using electricity.

 

[finsandfangs]

don't be confused just look at the watts that it takes to run them

ac 110 ( 500 gallons an hour) uses 14 watts

rena xp3 uses 23 watts

0ther small wispers use 6 to 9 watts

look at how many watts it takes a wet dry pump to move 500 gallons an hour up 4 ft from the sump to the tank

the rio pump 2500 pluss uses 49 watts to move 529 gallon an hour up 4 ft ( and this pump uses less watts than most)



that means you could use 3.5 ac 110 filters to equal the same watts used

that is 1750 gallons an hour if you went with 3.5 ac 110s to equal 49 watts

or 529 gallons an hour with 1 rio 2500 plus pump to equal 49 watts

 

[rallysman]

don't be confused just look at the watts that it takes to run them

ac 110 ( 500 gallons an hour) uses 14 watts

rena xp3 uses 23 watts

0ther small wispers use 6 to 9 watts

look at how many watts it takes a wet dry pump to move 500 gallons an hour up 4 ft from the sump to the tank

the rio pump 2500 pluss uses 49 watts to move 529 gallon an hour up 4 ft ( and this pump uses less watts than most)



that means you could use 3.5 ac 110 filters to equal the same watts used

that is 1750 gallons an hour if you went with 3.5 ac 110s to equal 49 watts

or 529 gallons an hour with 1 rio 2500 plus pump to equal 49 watts

GPH means nothing when you're comparing apples to oranges. It takes less flow for a wet/dry to filter as much as a HOB. Also, a pump running wide open at 0ft head will use more power than the same pump pushing 4 ft up. The flow decreases a bit, but so does the power consumption. I filter a 125 and a 300 off of 1 pump that uses about 200w.

You might also want to see how much that AC is actually flowing. If it's full of media I guarantee it's not flowing 500gph

 

[finsandfangs]

in my livingroom i have a 240 gallon tank running on
1 magnum 350 35 watts
1 fluval 404 21 watts
1 ac 110 14 watts

also in my livingroom a 75 gallon

1 ac110 14 watts
1 small ac ( i don't know the model #) 9 watts



total in my living room

315 gallons

93 watts for filtration

.29 watts per gallon

your 180 and 125 totals

305 gallons

200 watt wet dry

.65 watts per gallon


you use more than twice the power and my tanks are spotless


i also don't believe that the pump uses less power at 4 ft head. there is more load the high that it has to be pumped. this is why it take an empty ac 500 14 watts to move the same amount of water a rio pump needs 49 watts when moving it 4 ft

 

[rallysman]

in my livingroom i have a 240 gallon tank running on
1 magnum 350 35 watts
1 fluval 404 21 watts
1 ac 110 14 watts

also in my livingroom a 75 gallon

1 ac110 14 watts
1 small ac ( i don't know the model #) 9 watts



total in my living room

315 gallons

93 watts for filtration

.29 watts per gallon

your 180 and 125 totals

305 gallons

200 watt wet dry

.65 watts per gallon


you use more than twice the power and my tanks are spotless


i also don't believe that the pump uses less power at 4 ft head. there is more load the high that it has to be pumped. this is why it take an empty ac 500 14 watts to move the same amount of water a rio pump needs 49 watts when moving it 4 ft

I'm actually filtering over 460g total volume (300 not 180 plus the volume in the sump). I could easily choke the pump down and have the same results using less power. I just have it open because I'm shunting some water back into the sump for more biological filtration. If you don't think that a centrifugal pump does less work when moving less water then do a bit of research. It seems wrong but it's not.

again, I feel this is comparing apples to oranges. I'm not willing to worry about a couple tenths of a watt for superior filtration. I could add my 110 to the same setup and still be fine.

 

[finsandfangs]

460 gallons would still be .43 wats per gallons.

you can turn the power down to your pump? or just a valve to slow the flow?

 

[rallysman]

460 gallons would still be .43 wats per gallons.

you can turn the power down to your pump? or just a valve to slow the flow?

Both. Closing the valve to reduce the flow will decrease power consumption. I might also mention that I'm flowing water through 30g of bio media.