snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,
I know how difficult it can be to pay the electric bill sometimes for our hobby, so I wanted to share with you some of my energy saving tips that I have learned over working at my shop. If anyone would like to contribute, please do so! I am all ears and I want everyone to learn together.
1. On your fish only tanks, run the lights only when you are looking at your fish in the evenings after work. Fish do not need 8 hours of light.
2. If you have freshwater planted aquariums, put them beside windows and run your lights for only 4 hours a day.
3. Clean your pumps, filters, and protein skimmers weekly! This makes sure that the pumps do not have excess back pressure which can cut down on your electric bill.
4. If you have reef tanks, try to only run your lights in the coolest part of the day. That way your air conditioner will not have to keep up with the excess heat coming off of your tank.
5. I know it isn't anything to do with aquariums, but insulating your home more then what it normally should be also helps cut down drastically on your electric bill. Take into consideration putting insulation between the rafters of your house and even between the floor boards of your house if it is raised above the ground. Make sure you have no air leaks, this could cause a lot of excess energy loss.
6. Turn off appliances that you aren't using when you leave the room. Turn off your tv and the light in the living room etc.
7. When you go to bed at night, turn off your desktop computers.
8. If you truely want to prevent excess energy loss, unplug items that you aren't using. Even if an appliance is turned off, it is still drawing some electricity.
9. If you have a reef tank that requires a lot of light, only turn on the really bright lights for 4 to 6 hours during the day and have supplemental lighting for the rest of the day. Corals need lots of light to thrive, but will be just as happy getting a ton of light only for a few hours during the day.
10. Don't use excessive amounts of powerheads. Use one or two very powerful powerheads instead of 5 or 6 smaller ones. Not only do they clutter up your tank, but they draw more wattage.
11. Use more then one heater. I know it sounds odd, but the less time that your heaters have to stay on and heat up your water, the less wattage they will use.
12. When you run multiple tanks that are close to one another, take advantage of the large water volume and only use one pump. Multiple pumps cause excessive amounts of energy loss.
13. If you get tired of one of your aquariums, sell it off, don't keep running it. Let someone else have some fun.
14. Don't put fridge/freezers in direct sunlight.
15. During the summer, each 1 degree in airconditioning temp change you can save $0.03 per kilo hour. That's a lot of savings! So, turn your air up during summer and down during winter. It helps a lot!
Please add to the list, I'm sure there are a lot of people right now who will love these energy saving tips and techniques.
I know how difficult it can be to pay the electric bill sometimes for our hobby, so I wanted to share with you some of my energy saving tips that I have learned over working at my shop. If anyone would like to contribute, please do so! I am all ears and I want everyone to learn together.
1. On your fish only tanks, run the lights only when you are looking at your fish in the evenings after work. Fish do not need 8 hours of light.
2. If you have freshwater planted aquariums, put them beside windows and run your lights for only 4 hours a day.
3. Clean your pumps, filters, and protein skimmers weekly! This makes sure that the pumps do not have excess back pressure which can cut down on your electric bill.
4. If you have reef tanks, try to only run your lights in the coolest part of the day. That way your air conditioner will not have to keep up with the excess heat coming off of your tank.
5. I know it isn't anything to do with aquariums, but insulating your home more then what it normally should be also helps cut down drastically on your electric bill. Take into consideration putting insulation between the rafters of your house and even between the floor boards of your house if it is raised above the ground. Make sure you have no air leaks, this could cause a lot of excess energy loss.
6. Turn off appliances that you aren't using when you leave the room. Turn off your tv and the light in the living room etc.
7. When you go to bed at night, turn off your desktop computers.
8. If you truely want to prevent excess energy loss, unplug items that you aren't using. Even if an appliance is turned off, it is still drawing some electricity.
9. If you have a reef tank that requires a lot of light, only turn on the really bright lights for 4 to 6 hours during the day and have supplemental lighting for the rest of the day. Corals need lots of light to thrive, but will be just as happy getting a ton of light only for a few hours during the day.
10. Don't use excessive amounts of powerheads. Use one or two very powerful powerheads instead of 5 or 6 smaller ones. Not only do they clutter up your tank, but they draw more wattage.
11. Use more then one heater. I know it sounds odd, but the less time that your heaters have to stay on and heat up your water, the less wattage they will use.
12. When you run multiple tanks that are close to one another, take advantage of the large water volume and only use one pump. Multiple pumps cause excessive amounts of energy loss.
13. If you get tired of one of your aquariums, sell it off, don't keep running it. Let someone else have some fun.
14. Don't put fridge/freezers in direct sunlight.
15. During the summer, each 1 degree in airconditioning temp change you can save $0.03 per kilo hour. That's a lot of savings! So, turn your air up during summer and down during winter. It helps a lot!
Please add to the list, I'm sure there are a lot of people right now who will love these energy saving tips and techniques.
