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.
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.
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the question onw is how would using a method like this affect peopel with a regular power company that charges the same rate all day long 
