Need advice on turning filter off for some hours

patoloco

patoloco

De seguro no sabes lo que dice aqu
Oct 20, 2005
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My electricity company is setting up a new hour-based way to bill the electricity. This means, there will be hours where electricity will be very cheap (at night), average (most daytime) and sky-high expensive (noon and dawn).

As today, my electricity bill is quite expensive, so i'm thinking to ask for that new system. However, in order to take full advantage of the new system, I'd need to turn off my filters two times daily: from 10.00am to 12:30pm and from 5.30pm to 8 p.m.

Tanks are big and not overcrowded, so I am sure oxigen levels and temp will not be compromised.

If I apply this system, I can reduce my electri bill in a 40%.

What do you think? Do or do not?
 
Without continued water flow through those filters you will lose most of the bacteria that make your filters able to deal with the amonia your fish produce. You will have amonia problems if you turn your filters off for lengths of time like that.

The health of your tanks isn't worth the money saved IMO.
 
Test it out for a few days....see if your ammonia & nitrites remain at undetectable levels prior to turning the filters back on. See if the test results are consistent after a few days.

In one tank I had turned off both filters and forgot to turn them back on until the next day...I immediately tested for ammonia and nitrite and had undetectable levels (and I have a somewhat high bio-load).

Turning off a couple of hours each day should be fine, but test to verify. The bacteria die-off might be neglible since you have bacteria on the surface of everything thing in your tank (in addition to high concentrations in your filters).

Any evidence of a ammonia or nitrite rise then I'd keep them on continuously.
 
As long as the biofilters remain moist, the bacteria can live on it without food for about 48 hours. After that some go into stasis and others dieoff. The nitrite eating ones being the most delicate. If you can keep the biofilters damp and maintain enough oxygen, things should be ok.
 
I'll test for a few days and see what happens. I'll go out and buy a timer this evening.

Snake, I know you are right. My tanks' health is my first concern: that'0s why I'm asking for other people opinions. I'll test for 1 week and post the results here.

And honestly, I am in no way cheap when I'm taking care of my fish, but electricity is getting expensive here. :rant2:
 
Of course i dont know how many tanks/ filters we are talking about BUT usually filters dont use that much electricity (or maybe if you have more than 1 filter on a tank you could run at least 1 per tank on what i am suggesting now).

Try a UPS. They are meant to give you time to power down your PC incase of power failure. Depending on size they run a PC for 5-30 mins (using 300-400W). If you only have 3x 20W filters (canisters) and 5x 6W (like the aquaclear HOBs) such a UPS could give you easily another 1-2 hours of filter runtime.
Such 300-500VA UPS can be found for dirt cheap in the US (30$). I've seen a lot in garage sales or when companies empty out their old computer junk... for 5$ a piece.

If you have more filters or want to be able to run them all for the 2-3 hours your power is expensive - then get a bigger UPS.
Example like this would run 100W of filters for 3 hours easily.

Just have the UPS on a timer - so as soon as "power is expensive time" hits - have the timer shut power off to the UPS - then it takes over running the filters and back on after power is cheaper again.

Also good to have incase power ever goes out - will keep your tank alive longer.
 
I'm worried about my main tank, wich is powered by a 200 watts pump. Any moderate priced UPS will die in 15 minutes with such load.

The tanks power comsuption issue is only a part of an overall power saving plan I'm making at my house. The plan consist on putting regular task on a schedule, and I wanted to add my tanks on it. Of course, I am more worried about the power consuption of the stove and the clothes dryer, but any improvement to my plan will allow me to save some money so I can buy more fish :bowing: :bowing:
 
I have two tanks (10g & 20g) with plants and assorted fish that I turn off completely for about 2.5 hours every day. I've never seen any ill effects and the plants and fish seem to be thriving. I didn't like the bio-wheel drying out though, so I only use AC filters and cannisters on them now.
 
UPS is still your best bet... Unfortunately that 200 watt pump makes it kinda expensive to get any type of ups that would run that for extended periods. Best run time you could get off a high end Home style ups would be about 45 minutes to an hour..... a business class ups would do better, but run you $$$$ uber more. Then there are your other pumps, and heaters.....

There are plans out there that allow you to make your own UPS using car batteries.... But excuse the pun... you may be playing with fire there...but the car batteries would do the trick but also be expensive.

Is there a way to shut off your 200w pump and use a lower GPH pump during that period to ensure the bio-filter stays healthy?
 
could you modify your system to be run by a low wattage pump? maybe modifying your system to accomodate this scenario might be expensive up front but cost saving in the long run. good luck hope you find a good solution
 
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