Reducing Electricity Consumption

[seaner]

I know this is an expensive hobby, so penny pinching where I can helps reduce over all costs and allows me to buy nice frags with the money I save I have several tips on reducing electricity consumption:

- Replace really old pumps. I have a old pump on my skimmer that is drawing 2.3 amps (276 watts) an hour. I was doing research, and I can replace it with a better pump that draws .21 amps (25 watts) an hour. The pump will pay for its self after about 8-10 months of use.

- I turn off my none essential pumps at night. They turn on 30 minutes before my lights turn on, and off 30 minutes after my lights turn off.

- I use a 6500k compact spiral bulb for my macro algae lighting. They last longer, and consume less electricity.

- I use reflective material in my hood/fixtures, so I don't need as many bulbs.

- My tank is in an enclosed area, and the doors are insulated. I close them in the winter time to reduce heat loss.


Any other tips would be appreciated

 

[Paco]

Toss out closed loop for Tunze or Vortech. Run a controller to manage fans to cool tank, not a chiller (more applicable for Florida where I live).

 

[seaner]

Toss out closed loop for Tunze or Vortech. Run a controller to manage fans to cool tank, not a chiller (more applicable for Florida where I live).

My closed loop system consumes about 155 watts an hour (pump and om). I have it turned on for 13 hours a day. I get about 2500-3000 gph of flow in my tank. If I choke back the pump more, I can reduce the amount flow and electricity used. How much electricity does a typical Tunze or Vortech consume?

I bought a controller, and it has been the best investment made so far in the hobby.

I really like the fan idea. I'm in the processes of wiring 4 fans and hooking it into my controller. I plan on controlling them the temperature monitor of my controller. The fans consume about 5-7 watts each.

We have ridiculous weather where I live. It can get up to 36 degrees Celsius in the summer, and -50 degrees Celsius (Wind-chill) in the dead of winter (96.8 to -58 degree degrees Fahrenheit). A lot of people here cool there tanks with there Air conditioning system in the summer.

 

[chimmike]

Vortech lists power consumption on their website. Needless to say, it's significantly less than 155w.

Convert to LED lights to significantly decrease your power consumption on lights. As said, use a controller which can do all of these features for light control, pump control, etc.

buy more efficient pumps, i.e. more expensive pumps.

This begs the question, however: will you get a return on power savings equivalent to your outlay on these new items? Probably not in the life span of the equipment or the tank itself.

 

[mak3mydae]

Few lighting options are stronger and less power consuming than LED's. You could look into them for lighting your fuge or even lighting your display tank.

By the way, dialing your pump back with a valve reduces the amount of electricity consumed? I figured it could consume the same amount, but is using all the energy to force water through the restriction.

 

[Paco]

My closed loop system consumes about 155 watts an hour (pump and om). I have it turned on for 13 hours a day. I get about 2500-3000 gph of flow in my tank. If I choke back the pump more, I can reduce the amount flow and electricity used. How much electricity does a typical Tunze or Vortech consume?

My Tunze 6100s run 40 watts each, on high. I control them using an AquaController Jr. w/AquaSurf so they are constantly varying their speed. They are like 20 watts on low. Each one moves >3000 GPH. I would never consider turning off my circulation -- I do, however, run them slower overnight, just to make it a little calmer for the resting fish. Point being, they don't use much juice and they move a LOT of water :beer:.

Also, my Eheim 1262 consumes 70 watts, my Aquabee 2000/1 skimmer pump is 13. A Maxi-jet is 20 watts. (Does anyone even use them for water circulation any more? :thumbdown) By far, it's my two metal halides that draw the most juice -- 500 watts, 9ish hours a day. They're worth it :inlove:.

 

[Makenna]

In my current 210g tank I have really worked hard to be more efficent.

1. All LED's
2. Vortechs for water movement.
3. Ehiem return Pump.
4. Askoll motor for skimmer.
5. a couple of MJ400s running phosban/carbon reactors.

So...without getting out all the details, around 1000W total for a 210g tank with SPS growing....not a bad deal at all. And it is dead quiet to boot!

 

[OceansX]

My lights raise my tank by about three degrees from room temp and my Iwaki skimmer pump about the same. I started running the skimmer on a timer only at night. My temperature now stays consistent at 80F, about 2 degrees higher than room temp.

I have halved the cost of running my skimmer, and more importantly avoided having to crank my A/C higher or run a chiller. I'm in Houston, so yes I have fans on my aquarium - one on the skimmer, and two in the canopy.

 

[seaner]

My 120 gallon system peaks at 800 watts during the day, and 500 at night. I plan to get it down in the next month to 600 during the day, and 300 at night.

 

[seaner]

In my current 210g tank I have really worked hard to be more efficent.

1. All LED's
2. Vortechs for water movement.
3. Ehiem return Pump.
4. Askoll motor for skimmer.
5. a couple of MJ400s running phosban/carbon reactors.

So...without getting out all the details, around 1000W total for a 210g tank with SPS growing....not a bad deal at all. And it is dead quiet to boot!

That is awesome.... Eventually I will get there.....

 

[phi delt reefer]

Seaner - nice to see more Canadians here

I too am doing something very similar in my nano setup that will up and running soon. Heres what i have taken away from my research;

1. In Ontario we are starting to get tiered electrical costs; where costs of use range from 0.045 cents kwh to 0.095 cents per kwh. Higher costs during peak hours - so i will be running my lights during the night at 0.045 per kwh literally saving me 50% right there in costs!

2. My 2 Korilia nano powerheads consume 3.5 watts each - i will be using a reefkeeper controller to keep one on at a time in 1 minute intervals to get some good random flow along with halving my power costs. powerhead placement is more important than just the flow rating of a pump. you can throw the new mp60 in front of a rock wall and its not going to do anything, but a couple well placed smaller powerheads is more important imo.

3. keep your tank in the room with the thermostat for your home - the thermostat measures the temperature of that specific room and then adjusts the household temps accordingly. keeping a constant temp there will help minimize the time the heater and fans need to be on depending on the season. May also help with evaporation. remember to keep the curtains closed in the summer and open in the winter to help with managing the temps.

4. this one is just a matter of opinion (i know i am going to take some heat for this ) I would hold off on the whole LED fad thats sweeping/bankrupting many reefers here. t5's are the way to go in my opinion - they use about the same amount of electricity but way less than your halides. remember that the LEDS are high power ones requiring just as much electricity as equivalent T5 setups - the savings in electrical use is usually through the removal of a chiller system due to the cooler running of lights vs halides. also - i have yet to see a whole bunch of tanks thriving on LEDs, i have seen a few here or there but not as many as i have seen with t5s.

4. just cause you can digitize something dont, lol. My specific example is ATO systems. If you have the room under your tank but above your sump, put a container on a shelf in there and just gravity feed your top off with a float valve (the one with the air ballast on the end, not the reed magnet ones). Much more reliable and you don't have worry about pumps not working, power outages, extra electrical costs, etc.

5. heaters - this is more of a question to the general public than research based. is it better to use a bigger heater that would be on for a shorter amount of time or a smaller heater that uses less electricity but is on longer?


I did my research to ensure my DIY UPS could run the tank for almost a full day (vs saving money on my electrical bill).

cheers

vince

 

[seaner]

1. In Ontario we are starting to get tiered electrical costs; where costs of use range from 0.045 cents kwh to 0.095 cents per kwh. Higher costs during peak hours - so i will be running my lights during the night at 0.045 per kwh literally saving me 50% right there in costs!

Our electricity costs 0.063 cents a Kwh. Thank goodness for that.

 

[James77]

Things I did:

I replaced Radiums on HQI ballast (660 watts) with 175w Iwasaki 15ks on Lumatek ballasts (360 watts). I also replaced 2x110 watt VHOs with a 28w LED Actinic ReefBrite strip. The color with the combo on is fairly similar to the Radium, a bit more whitish. PAR is the same as when the Radiums were on there.

Replaced a 107 watt Velocity pump with a 32 watt Sicce Syncra pump, flow is similar to what i had. I run an eeficient Sicce skimmer pump. I insulate my stand and the back of my tanks so heat loss is minimal.

The newest Tunze 6105s draw about 25-28 watts.

My total electric in kwh/month right now on my reef tank is about 140 kwH ($20 at my rate), not including heat. Heat does not run in the summer, we'll see what this winter will do.

My planted tank uses 2x2217 eheim filters, which draw 28 watts together total. Lighting is 4x54 T5s, so is another efficient tank.

 

[coolkidtr]

i run my fans on a controller for temperature and humidity. I also changed the impellers on my hammerhead and barracuda reeflo pumps.I would recommend it. It converts your existing pumps into the "gold" more energy efficient versions.

 

[seaner]

i run my fans on a controller for temperature and humidity. I also changed the impellers on my hammerhead and barracuda reeflo pumps.I would recommend it. It converts your existing pumps into the "gold" more energy efficient versions.

Where do you buy new impellers? Do you know how much it reduces electricity consumption by?

 

[RegalAngel]

Our electricity costs 0.063 cents a Kwh. Thank goodness for that.

Welcome to California!

Baseline rate - $0.12/kwh
Over 200% base (297kwh) - $0.40/kwh

My electric use - 1135 kwh with close to 50% in the over 200% @ $0.40/kwh
Close to half is for my aquarium hobby! :fish2:
The natural gas use is only 21 therms or $23. no other use (ie oil, etc).

 

[d0ughb0y]

By the way, dialing your pump back with a valve reduces the amount of electricity consumed? I figured it could consume the same amount, but is using all the energy to force water through the restriction.

yes it will. the pump will only work as hard as the volume of water it is required to move. when you dial back the valve on the pump, you should see slower water movement, hence less water volume moved. If you follow your logic, it will move the same amount of water faster through a smaller valve opening, which is not what is happening here. You can see that for yourself if you hook up the pump to a kill-a-watt and then dial back the valve, you will see a corresponding drop in power usage.


on my setup, I find the highest power consumer is the heater, so during winter, I program the controller to minimize the time the heater comes on.

I've always left my closed loop pump running 24/7. I'll try the idea of shutting it down at night.

 

[jefathome]

I went VERY efficient on my new build. Did it in-wall with some lolar tubes (and 2 T5's for more blue). Put my media and stuff in-line with my return, went with a Vortech placed low in the tank for better flow across the bottom, thus reducing the need for as many pumps (just an MP40 and a Tunze 6025). Also using a fan now instead of a chiller.
Last trick was to put my in-sump pump (keeps detritus from building up) on a 5min on 55mmin off scheudle.

I'm also thinking about putting some sheets of the 3/4in styrefoam on the three non-viewing sides to keep as much heat IN during the winter (tank is located in a locked closet outside the house).

 

[seaner]

I just did the math. I spend about $30 (+/- $4) a month in electricity on my saltwater tank. Wow... that is about half of my electricity bill.... shame......

 

[aleonn]

Good tips! I will have to look into some sort of DIY reflectors inside my canopy.