How to reduce power consumption

F

fishkeeprian

Active member
Hello,

Just looking for way's to lower my power usage. I'm getting it in the neck because it cost on average £80 (UK pounds)per month to keep my tank in power.

Thanks
 
LED lighting, more efficient pumps and wavemakers, turn down the tank temp a couple degrees. Hard to say really without knowing what you're running. But likely can't do much to significantly reduce costs, just part of the hobby.
 
sde1500 said:
LED lighting, more efficient pumps and wavemakers, turn down the tank temp a couple degrees. Hard to say really without knowing what you're running. But likely can't do much to significantly reduce costs, just part of the hobby.
Click to expand...

Yeh I love the hobby but I'm getting it about the cost of running. I'm running two rw8 wave makers, dcp 5000 return,curve 5 skimmer, 36w uv, reactor pump, 300w heater, small pump for reactor, ato. 300w led.
 
That seems really high.

What is the tank size?
Do you happen to know what you (Edit) pay per kW hour?
 
Last edited:
IF the DC pump could be used to run both reactors 2 pumps 24/7 would be eliminated.
The only other savings would be a shorter lighting cycle.
 
You can buy a cheap meter to measure electricity usage if you want to nail down where the power is really going. They can measure how long each item runs per day. For instance, I have a 300W heater in my tank, but it only runs about 4 hours a day so not too bad. However, a 100W pump running 24 hours consumes twice as much power. You could then tell if the bulk of your true power consumption is from heating, lighting, pumps, power heads...etc. If heating turns out to be a major contributor, you may be able to add some insulation to certain sides of your tank or stand to hold in more heat. Obviously not any viewing panes, but others can be covered for some heat savings.
 
would shut UV down, only run when its needed. That's how I do it, if I see an issue or when I add something new. other than that its off. Might even keep the house temp higher or lower a degree. Might cost less to do than then have the heater run?
 
It's amazing how fast it all adds up, I have been out of the hobby for about 4 years now and in the end my electricity bill went down over $100 a month and that was with LED and no chiller but the tank was over 140 gallons total. I'm now setting up a nano tank and I'm glad to see that there a lot more energy efficient pumps and hardware out there than 4 years ago.
 
fishkeeprian said:
Tanks is 200 litres of actual water. We pay 29.779p for the first two kwph then 14.713p for the rest of the day.
Click to expand...

You have a 200 litre tank with a 5000 lph return?
My tank is only 150 litres and have a 2000 lph return, which after it goes thru plumbing and the fact i've also dialed it down, it's probably only pumping out 5-600 lph now which is a power saving right there.!
 
fishkeeprian said:
Tanks is 200 litres of actual water. We pay 29.779p for the first two kwph then 14.713p for the rest of the day.
Click to expand...

Ouch. I assume you mean 0.29779 pounds per kilowatt hour.

I didn't realize people paid that much for power. I have a 125 gallon+40 breeder sump, and a 2800 square ft house, and last month's electric bill was a little over 100$
 
fishkeeprian said:
Tanks is 200 litres of actual water. We pay 29.779p for the first two kwph then 14.713p for the rest of the day.
Click to expand...

So yes, yes, I will no longer complain of the cost of electricity!
I run two LED, 2 filters, 8 wave makers, skimmer and a ATO.

Cost in Canada....$30.00 per month. ( the increase of the tank only)

Man, I'm glad we make and have a surplus of power, of which we sell to our good neighbors...
 
Uncle99 said:
So yes, yes, I will no longer complain of the cost of electricity!
I run two LED, 2 filters, 8 wave makers, skimmer and a ATO.

Cost in Canada....$30.00 per month. ( the increase of the tank only)

Man, I'm glad we make and have a surplus of power, of which we sell to our good neighbors...
Click to expand...



Lol I'm electric heat and hot water living in a very old house in New England. My winter electric bills hit $700 a month.
 
move to quebec, canada. paying 0.05cad/kwh ;) that would get you a huge saving. but 300w led lighting for a 200l tank seems a bit too much.
 
FullBoreReefer said:
Yikes! That’s half my mortgage and I have 20acres haha
Click to expand...

Haha yea it is about the same for me as well, though I only have 10 acres :P

Fourstars said:
Do you run your tank with solar and wind! I'd love to see the set up, or link if build thread already started.
Click to expand...

I plan to use solar to mitigate higher energy costs over the next couple years. It wouldn't be much of a build thread, anyone running solar for a tank likely would mean they just have panels on their roof powering the house their tank is in.

To keep it a bit more on topic for OP, unfortunately it is what it is for the tank. Best I could come up with is kill the UV and use your return pump to power the return and all your reactors.
 
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