Hrmm, my water bill hasn't gone up much since I started keeping fish, 45-60$ a month as opposed to 40-50$ a month, electricity on the other hand is another 20$ a month...here in the US anywhoo. I don't know anything about Irish utilities, but you should look into it, I'm pretty sure the food bill for your aro and CK is already larger than any water bill will be.
If your father can afford a 500gallon tank to begin with I'm pretty sure he can cover it. You should probaly talk to him about it though, and what you can do to help.
I agree with golemgolem if Irish water bills are anything like US water bills its not going to be an issue I would talk to your dad about it. If you wanted to help out paying the bill maybe you good mow lawns or something.
i agree with a couple of the last few posts, talk to your dad first, maybe do some research and find out what kind of costs your bill will suffer from your tank - and go from there.
To the OP, collect rain water and put in plants. I have heard of people NEVER doing water changes. They just top off whatever evaporates with rain water and keep lots of plants. Then you have 0 impact on the water bill.
Disagree, you can have a 100 FX5 or Eheim 2262 on your tank and you would still have to do water change to reduce nitrate levels.
Only ways of reducing water changes (a.k.a nitrate levels)
- Do not overfeed
- Reduce stock level
- Add more nitrate-"loving" plants
- Set up a DSB for anaerobic conditions
- Denitrater "same purpose as above"
- Regularly clean out the gunk in the filter before they break down and undergo the nitrogen cycle
- Regularly vac your gravel "same purpose as above"
^^ This is bang on. If I added three more Fx5s to my 220, I'd still have to change water the same amount. The filtration would simply be taking place over 5 filters instead of two, it does nothing for nitrate.