Filter interruptus

Hi people. I have been doing an experiment with my tanks about the need to keep the filter running 24/7 and the expense in electricity.

My electric company changed its charging model to a time-of-day system, in which electricity consumed from 8pm to 6am of the next day is extremely cheap. But, whay you consume beetwen 10am to 12:30 pm, and from 5:30pm to 8 pm is extremely expensive. Almost 500% than the nocturnal rate.

So, I asked for advice past december, and put the filters on a timer. All my tank's filters are off from 10:00 am to 12:30pm and from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. So, they are off 5 hours daily in two 2.5 hours intervals.

My observation concluded with no detectable ammonia nor nitrites, and the same nitrate production as before. Fish are not having difficulty breathing, and both a crayfish and a shrimp seem unaffected. (There is a fish that likes to rest on the spray bar of a canister filter, and gets scared when the filter comes back on, but that's his fault).

The experiment used 4 tanks (with a HOB, a canister and a sump filter). In all of them, the media remains submerged in water even when the motors are off. I had a bad experience with a Whisper 10i internal filter, cause as soon as the power goes off, it begins to leach all of his dirty contents in the water.

dsbrasw said:

What about heaters, lights, air pumps, powerheads, etc?

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Lights:

The 250gl. tank has no plants, and gets lighted by natural indirect light. Artificial lights go on only when I need to watch something at night or I have to do a inspection of something.

In the 50 gl. planted tank and 20 gl. brackish tank, lights turn on at 12:30 pm and keep on until 5:30, when they go off. Then, they are back on at 8:00 pm and keep on until almost midnight. This gives the "siesta time" to get rid of algae and provide 10 hours of ligting to the plants.

Heaters:I don't use them in tanks less than 10 gl. Even a tank as small as 20 gl, remains at 79 ºF all day/night long. In Costa Rica, temp is really stable all
year round.

Air pumps, power heads:
Not used at all.
The wet/dry sump system in the 250 gl. provides a great oxigenation of water. The return line is in the bottom of the tank, all way long, so this gives a fair circulation of water, leaving no dead spot. This allowed to send the powerheads and air pumps to a emergency cabinet.
The 50 gl tank, planted, requires few surface disturbance, so the canister provides all the current I need there.
In the 20 gl, the HOB also covers all the current, aireation and filtration needs.

budrecki said:

How much did you save?

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I haven't received the first bill from the new charging system, since it satarted this month in my community. However, according to the lectures on the KW meter, my bill might be reduced to around half I used to pay