Huge money saving project! Help!

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DevonV

AC Members
Apr 15, 2006
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Hi everyone,

My name's Devon, and my family and I (but mostly me, unfortunatly, hence this post!) rescue and rehome abused, neglected, and/or unwanted animals. I work a relativley low paying job but am responsible for the care of all of the animals and all costs involved. It's getting to be a bit much! I know this is a very...loaded first post...but, please, help me if you can!

I am tired of being constantly broke and/or in debt to my sister/parents! I never have money for ANYTHING other then animal supplies. Not only that, my parents are complaining about the high electricity bill. I have had a sudden influxuation of reptile rescues and thus vet bills, new supplies, and new set ups. I need to figure out how to use less power, in particular. I am also thinking that I will have to adopt out a higher precentage of rescues, despite my attachement, because it's JUST NOT PRACTICAL for me to keep as many animals as I want to keep.

But, I would prefer, of course, to keep most. :D I have a room that I don't use...technically my bedroom, but I could do some moving around, I don't sleep in there much anyways. The bedroom holds heat/cold well and is well insulated. I'm not exactly sure if there's anything I can do to save on electricity with the reptiles...I was hoping someone here would know. I was thinking that I could heat the room to an appropriate temperature, but then most of my herps would still need a basking spot, they still need heat gradients....right? I'm wondering if my fish obsession is the real culprit.

Here is what I have for herps, and what they use as far as electricity:

Marbled Gecko:
-Heatlamp

Rubber Frogs:
-Heat Cable undertank

Leopard Gecko:
-Heat cable undertank (same cable, used for two cages)
-heat lamp

Whites Tree Frog:
-Heating Pad

Giant Jamaican Anole:
-Heat lamp
-Air pump for bubbler
-UVB lighting

Mountain Horned Dragons
-UVB light
-basking light
-waterfall pump

Mali Uromastyx
-Heat Pad
-UVB light
-Heat Lamp

Red Tail Boa:
-Heating pad

Ball Python:
-Heating Pad

Water Dragons:
-Heat Lamp
-UVB light
-Heating Pad
-Filter

Newts
-Filter

Leopard gecko number 2
-Heating Pad

Toads and Salamanders:
-nothing!

As for fish, I think they may be the bigger culprit, if so, I could make my room into a fish room and heat it to the desired temperature of the tanks...but I'm not sure if that would save us much money. Here's what I have.

80 Gallon
-powerhead with sponge filter
-Rena Xp2
-Whisper 40 Air Pump
-Heater

20 Gallon long
-Whisper 40 Filter
-Heater
-Air pump.
-Flourescent Light

20 Gallon
-Aquaclear 30
-Heater

33 gallon
-Powerhead
-Fluval 304
-heater
-airpump
-light

33 Gallon
-Heater
-Aquaclear 30
-Light

60 gallon
-Rena Xp2
-power head
-light
-heater


So, does anybody have any power saving tips for me?! I'm desperate! I have been thinking a lot about turning my bedroom into a fishroom, perhaps. If I did this, I could heat the room to 78 degrees. I could also put the mountain horned dragons and water dragons in this room, and the water dragons would no longer need a heat pad, and the MHD's wouldn't need the basking lamps.

Here are my Ideas for making my tanks more economical:

I think I am having some good ideas for saving electricity with my fish tanks.

Heat room with tanks to 78 degrees

80 gallon:
Take out Powerhead (keep this one, it can go reverse)
Sell Rena Xp2 ($100.00? Is that fair? It's only five months old)
Remove and Sell heater (Hydor. 300 Watt. $25?)
Buy Rena Xp3

20 Gallon Long

Remove heater. Sell it (Visitherm. $15?).

33 Gallon
Position fluval outlet for more surface movement
Position Powerheard for more surface movement
Remove Heater, Sell ($12?)
Remove air pump

33 Gallon
Remove Heater, Sell ($20, Neptune, new)


60 Gallon

Sell Heater (New topfin design, $12)
Sell Rena Xp2 (2 weeks old, $100?)
Buy Rena Xp3

Taking all lights off the tank, I am left with a pile of:

18” Flourescent strip light (Price suggestions?)
36” Double tube fluorescent strip light (Price?)
48” Single tube fluorescent strip light (Price?)
18” Tube, garbage, needs to be replaced
48” Double tube fluorescent strip light, from Home Depot, much like I want to buy.

I could sell the first three, and use that money to buy a couple long strip lights to go over all of the tanks.

I could save money on lights by getting them second hand as well.

I would also build a rack...I was considering a 2x4/cinderblock rack, would it be possible to build some that would hold these tanks?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
get rid of the fishtank lights, they take up power and they benefit you more than the fish.

take out the powerheads and air pumps, they probably are not needed, they arent used as filters right?

go get polystyrene sheets at homedepot to insulate your tanks. once you get your tanks insulated the heaters will hardly be on, what temperatures are your tanks set at? i usually lower mine to 72-72 during winter and then turn them back up to 78-80 during spring and summer.
 
Also using timers to regulate when certain pieces of equipment stay on
 
I wouldn't sell the XP2's to get XP3's. IMO, the difference between these 2 filters is negligible. XP3 has just an extra media basket and a slightly stronger motor (which uses more electricity). The flow rates are about the same and I don't think the extra media basket helps much.
 
Thanks, that's good to know.

What is it that you think uses up the most electricity in my tanks? Would it be more economical to filter two of the smaller tanks with sponge filters hooked up to a double outlet air pump?
 
DevonV said:
Thanks, that's good to know.

What is it that you think uses up the most electricity in my tanks? Would it be more economical to filter two of the smaller tanks with sponge filters hooked up to a double outlet air pump?
Click to expand...

Quite frankly, if your bio-load isn't too outrageous, you like frequent water changes and you have minimal or no gravel, you could sell the existing filters and invest in a powerful air pump and place apporopriate sized sponge filters in all the tanks...I have never had any problems with them and I was at a breeder the other day that ran nothing but sponge, even in his 100g tanks...looked fine and the fish were thriving..but again, keep up with the water changes.
 
All of my tanks have only about half an inch of large gravel at the bottom, some with a bit of sand mixed in to give the cichlids a bit of spitting material. haha. I really think that's a good idea, thanks! :D
 
If your really concerned about electrical usage you should keep track of every electrical item in your home with a spreadsheet. Check the wattage on everything thats plugged in. Goto the manufacturers website to find the watts if you have to. You can also get a meter that will measure electrical consumption. I have a meter called "Kill A Watt".


Most Filters don't use much electricity. Lights and heaters use up the most electricity. I don't think you should risk or sacrifice anything in your fish set-ups though.


I think you should start a fish/reptile room. I keep the temp in my fishroom 78-80F and my heaters rarely turn on. During the summer months, I do need air conditioning though.
 
I'm allowed to turn the basement bedroom into a fish/reptile room. I'd keep it at 78 degrees. It's in the basement and well insulated, so it's cold if it's not heated...but retains heat really well once it is. Can you hook a space heater up to a thermostat to keep the temperature of the room level?

What lights from Home Depot or someplace, would you suggest I buy for good energy effeciency?
 
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