Trying to Reduce Electric Bill

[Dace]

OK here goes.

I've been trying to reduce the amount of electricity i use on my salt water fish setup. And this is what I'm doing so far.
I have a remote system, in my basement is the sump and all equipment and my display is upstairs. First let me start by saying that in the winter i need to run 5 350 heaters because it gets very cold in my basement which is not heated. i run 10 maxi jets 1200 in my whole setup a iwalki 100rlt which is a electricity eater. A frag tank with a lumenarc 250de off a ice cap 250 ballast.
First of all i am very happy that they came out with the
Hydor Koralia Circulation Pumps. for every maxi jet i used i can run 4 of these pumps only that i can't used them the same way but i will still reduce the electric bill. this is what i will do.
First getting rid of my frag tank, that will reduce the 250 lumenarc which i will keep for backup for my display which uses the same setup.
Second I'm building a new sump and am putting it under my tank to reduce the amount of heaters my system will need. i will use only 3 350 heaters in the sump which says goodbye to 700 watts of heating. i know i will not need those heaters in my display room. Also by moving my sump up stair says bye bye to my iwalki 100 and hello to my new sequence dart that i just received today.less electricity. I have four maxi jets in rear off tank keeping the detritus of floor and will be getting rid of them and the output of the dart will be split into 2 1" which will also be split again and will be sending two line to each back corners and 2 will go two middle back all at floor level and will leave the vortech's pumps to do the job on the top. I also have maxi jets feeding my rowaphos and carbon reactors which i also will be eliminating as my new sump will have forced water chambers which will contain the rowa and carbon so there go two more maxi jets.I have a mag 9 split into two just stirring up the water in my sump so any detritus in the sump can be airborne and the give the skimmer a better chance to do it's job. the mag will go and hello Hydor Koralia 4 Circulation Pump. there goes more electricity. I have three brute 44gal cans which are always full, 1 fresh water top off and 2 with salt water mixed all the time being stirred by may maxi jets 1200 at 20 watts each. i will put 1 of the hydor pump #2 in each so i will run all three with less wattage then running 1 maxi jet. for now thats about it. feel free to chime in all you...

 

[twinreef]

looks like ur going to save a lot of electricity. more money for corals. cool.

 

[TimberTDI]

Dave,

I accidently left a 1500w space heater (a really old one) in my garage for like three weeks straight. I didn't realize it because my garage is has it's own heating zone. Well, I got the electric bill today; Last month I used 1540kw/h this mont 2042kw/h. Talk about ouch!

Steven

 

[tosiek]

If you get a buncha hamsters and feed them redbull and throw in some of those running wheels it helps ya save electric too =0)

Great work Dace!

 

[Dace]

looks like ur going to save a lot of electricity. more money for corals. cool.

True that. :biggrin:

I accidently left a 1500w space heater (a really old one) in my garage for like three weeks straight. I didn't realize it because my garage is has it's own heating zone. Well, I got the electric bill today; Last month I used 1540kw/h this mont 2042kw/h. Talk about ouch

Double Ouch!

If you get a buncha hamsters and feed them redbull and throw in some of those running wheels it helps ya save electric too =0)

Great work Dace!

Thanks

 

[leoskee]

Im looking to do the same thing when I set up my 180. It dawned to me yesterday that I have a Seio 1500 running 24/7 at the bottom of my 75 to keep detritus out of the back areas. Its eating up 34W of electricity all day. Plus I have a Mag 9.5 as a return and a Mag 12 on the skimmer. Those two combined are 223w running all day long.

I have a Sequence Barracuda and my Dart is on its way. Im not sure how I will use them but they are much more energy efficeint than what I have now.

 

[spykes]

dave are you running a plarge MRC now? or still using that deltec

 

[alrha]

if you run your lights (a high electric usage) at night, like i do, you can try out the 'Time-of-Use' plan which offers cheaper rates for 'off-peak' times (nights and weekends) - but higher rates for peak usage.

 

[Dace]

dave are you running a plarge MRC now? or still using that deltec

Deltec dave, plus that big bad boy would not fit under my stand

 

[Dace]

if you run your lights (a high electric usage) at night, like i do, you can try out the 'Time-of-Use' plan which offers cheaper rates for 'off-peak' times (nights and weekends) - but higher rates for peak usage.

don't think they have that plan at central hudson

 

[loismustdie]

Aren't you a little late? There are only going to be a couple of cold weeks left. Then we have the summer heat to worry about. The heat is much harder on our tanks than the cold. Now with your sump upstairs rather than in the cooler basement, heat becomes an issue and now you'll have to run your chiller, AC or whatever cooling technique you use more often in the hotter months.
If cooler temperatures is an issue, increase your photo period to warm your water, just like we reduce it in the summer to avoid over heating. Have you thought about turning on the frag tank lights at night to add some warmth?
A Dart is a great pump. Quiet as hell. But it moves a lot of water. A sump that is not properly built will be very noisy with 2000 gph going through it.
Think this through. 750 watts of heating or 1500 watts of cooling? Like I said in my signature... I've wasted too much money trying to save electricity.

 

[Dace]

Aren't you a little late? There are only going to be a couple of cold weeks left. Then we have the summer heat to worry about. The heat is much harder on our tanks than the cold. Now with your sump upstairs rather than in the cooler basement, heat becomes an issue and now you'll have to run your chiller, AC or whatever cooling technique you use more often in the hotter months.
If cooler temperatures is an issue, increase your photo period to warm your water, just like we reduce it in the summer to avoid over heating. Have you thought about turning on the frag tank lights at night to add some warmth?
A Dart is a great pump. Quiet as hell. But it moves a lot of water. A sump that is not properly built will be very noisy with 2000 gph going through it.
Think this through. 750 watts of heating or 1500 watts of cooling? Like I said in my signature... I've wasted too much money trying to save electricity.

Chris thank you for your comments and i do agree you make a good point, but there are other reasons I'm also doing this. reducing water volume, increasing water turnover, and reducing additional equipment that i could do without. But i really appreciated your comments because it's always good to see things from a different perspective

 

[vanceny]

Always trying to think of new ways to reduce my bill as well. Thankfully I have a wife that doesn't nag too much about the bill. After your setup is complete I would love to see how your electric bill is effected.

 

[Dace]

Always trying to think of new ways to reduce my bill as well. Thankfully I have a wife that doesn't nag too much about the bill. After your setup is complete I would love to see how your electric bill is effected.

after 2 months i will post results

 

[vanceny]

When selecting a pump or any other electrical device, are we looking at the amps or the watts for energy efficiency? Thanks for educating a total electrical dummy.:smash:

 

[Dace]

When selecting a pump or any other electrical device, are we looking at the amps or the watts for energy efficiency? Thanks for educating a total electrical dummy.:smash:

yes

 

[smoknreefrs]

your looking at the wattage

 

[House of Laughter]

David,

Focus on the 24/7 power eaters and augment your lighting shedule to contribute to your heating/colling as chris suggests - I did that with my frag tank and my single 800w heater barely went on in the winter and having the frag tank off cycle to the display kep it cool as well.

I replaced my Panworld PS-250 390w with a Genx PCX-55 which is 170w virtually cutting my 24/7 pump usage in 1/2 - additionally, I changed my skimmer pump (MAg12) to a Sedra 12000 which saved me an additional 40w running 24/7.

Additionally I reduced my lighting photoperiod by 2 hours per halide (from a total of 4) by staggering the start times better and running them less. My color and growth increased when I did this - not sure why.

I never really checked my electric bill after I did all that, but I know we reduced the costs alot because the majority of the reductions were running 24/7

Good luck

House

 

[Dace]

David,

Focus on the 24/7 power eaters and augment your lighting shedule to contribute to your heating/colling as chris suggests - I did that with my frag tank and my single 800w heater barely went on in the winter and having the frag tank off cycle to the display kep it cool as well.

I replaced my Panworld PS-250 390w with a Genx PCX-55 which is 170w virtually cutting my 24/7 pump usage in 1/2 - additionally, I changed my skimmer pump (MAg12) to a Sedra 12000 which saved me an additional 40w running 24/7.

Additionally I reduced my lighting photoperiod by 2 hours per halide (from a total of 4) by staggering the start times better and running them less. My color and growth increased when I did this - not sure why.

I never really checked my electric bill after I did all that, but I know we reduced the costs alot because the majority of the reductions were running 24/7

Good luck

House

thanks Jim

 

[meschaefer]

A while back I was looking at way to decrease my electric usage. After running all the numbers through a calculator, I came to the conclusion that it would cost me more than I would save. Since then I take electric consuption into account when replacing equipment, but I won't replace a powerhead/pump just for the electrical savings.