Energy efficient aquaria

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Hi guys,

Given the current concerns about climate change, we're getting serious
in my household about reducing out energy use . We don't own a car,
and we're renting our flat (so solar hot water etc is out). We've
swapped all our light bulbs for compact fluorescents, and bought a
nice, old fashioned fan for the living room so that we don't have to
use the airconditioner.

We've identified our fish tanks as a large energy sink. We have a 350
litre community tank in the living room, and a pair of 100 litre tanks
in our bedroom. I've done a quick and dirty estimate of their power
usage, as follows (using
http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi to calculate heater
power):

Main tank:

Heating - 110W - 964KWh/annum (120x48x60cm tank with 10mm walls
heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
Lighting - ~200W - 876KWh/annum (2 x 55W CF + 2 x 36W T8 on
electronic ballasts)
Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Eheim canister)

Small tanks:

Heating - 150W -1314KWh/annum (Two 60x35x45cm tanks with 6mm walls
heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
Lighting - ~50W - 219KWh/annum (One 36W T8 on magnetic ballast
shared across both tanks)
Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Two small Eheim canisters)

The whole lot adds up to 3.5MWh/annum, or 1.5 tons of CO2 each year,
which is pretty scary.

Anyway, I've been toying with ideas to reduce energy usage. Firstly, I
think I'll remove the T8 fluoros from the big tank, and put AH Supplies
reflectors on the 55W compacts. I calculate that the increase in
reflected light will pretty-much make up for the decrease in power. I
can then knock a few watts off the T8 on the other two tanks by putting
it on an electronic ballast.

After that though, it gets hard. My next thoughts are to double-glaze
the tanks. If I get some 3mm window glass cut, I could space that a
few millimetres off the main glass. It's difficult quantifying what
sort of power saving I'd get, but I'd guess something like 50% is
doable...

Has anyone tried double glazing? Any other ideas?

Cheers,

Suzy

[JamesG]

Suzy,
I have thought about the energy use also and my solutions were to
take down a couple tanks and give them away. I also have decided to
only use my heater when my tank temperature starts to drop below a
comfortable level for my fish; this usually occurs from November to
February (I live in the southern US). I have a 90 gallon tank and have
one biowheel filter and a powerhead running (with the air tube
connected). I also have an air pump running in the tank. Between
these things I think that I am getting enough aerobic treatement in my
tank. Good luck on that glass project. My tank has slate attached to
the back of it, I figure this insulates it a little bit.

James

[atomweaver]

"JamesG" > wrote in news:1164602361.532228.261020
@l39g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

> Suzy,
> I have thought about the energy use also and my solutions were to
> take down a couple tanks and give them away. I also have decided to
> only use my heater when my tank temperature starts to drop below a
> comfortable level for my fish; this usually occurs from November to
> February (I live in the southern US). I have a 90 gallon tank and have
> one biowheel filter and a powerhead running (with the air tube
> connected). I also have an air pump running in the tank. Between
> these things I think that I am getting enough aerobic treatement in my
> tank. Good luck on that glass project. My tank has slate attached to
> the back of it, I figure this insulates it a little bit.
>

That last comment about slate in your tank got me to thinking... If a
tank's volume is reduced, you won't be able to stock it as fully, but you
will also be heating a smaller mass to above-ambient temperatures.
(Responsibly) dropping the water level in your tanks can equate directly to
an energy savings. I'd also look at improving your tank cover's insulating
value, if it isn't at least as good as the tank walls, themselves.

Regards
DaveZ
Atom Weaver

[Jolly Fisherman]

On 26 Nov 2006 19:53:48 -0800, wrote:

>Hi guys,
>
>Given the current concerns about climate change, we're getting serious
>in my household about reducing out energy use . We don't own a car,
>and we're renting our flat (so solar hot water etc is out). We've
>swapped all our light bulbs for compact fluorescents, and bought a
>nice, old fashioned fan for the living room so that we don't have to
>use the airconditioner.
>
>We've identified our fish tanks as a large energy sink. We have a 350
>litre community tank in the living room, and a pair of 100 litre tanks
>in our bedroom. I've done a quick and dirty estimate of their power
>usage, as follows (using
>http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi to calculate heater
>power):
>
>Main tank:
>
> Heating - 110W - 964KWh/annum (120x48x60cm tank with 10mm walls
>heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
> Lighting - ~200W - 876KWh/annum (2 x 55W CF + 2 x 36W T8 on
>electronic ballasts)
> Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Eheim canister)
>
>Small tanks:
>
> Heating - 150W -1314KWh/annum (Two 60x35x45cm tanks with 6mm walls
>heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
> Lighting - ~50W - 219KWh/annum (One 36W T8 on magnetic ballast
>shared across both tanks)
> Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Two small Eheim canisters)
>
>The whole lot adds up to 3.5MWh/annum, or 1.5 tons of CO2 each year,
>which is pretty scary.
>
>Anyway, I've been toying with ideas to reduce energy usage. Firstly, I
>think I'll remove the T8 fluoros from the big tank, and put AH Supplies
>reflectors on the 55W compacts. I calculate that the increase in
>reflected light will pretty-much make up for the decrease in power. I
>can then knock a few watts off the T8 on the other two tanks by putting
>it on an electronic ballast.
>
>After that though, it gets hard. My next thoughts are to double-glaze
>the tanks. If I get some 3mm window glass cut, I could space that a
>few millimetres off the main glass. It's difficult quantifying what
>sort of power saving I'd get, but I'd guess something like 50% is
>doable...
>
>Has anyone tried double glazing?

No. The insulating power of double-glazing comes from the sealed
airspace in between the panes. How are you intending to install this?
You'll need a seal not only for insulation but also to avoid drips and
spills getting in between the panes. Make sure you're not going to
end up doing something that could create optical distortions or mess.
That would invalidate the whole point of keeping aquaria IMHO.

> Any other ideas?

Lighting is a very significant expense for the planted or marine tank.
more efficient lighting is a good idea. But you can't have your cake
and eat it too. Either you accept the energy consumption or you do
without the light demanding specimens.

Heating becomes more efficient with larger tanks. Either do without
the smaller tanks or upgrade the 2 100l to a single 200l+.

I wouldn't worry about filtration. It would be more efficient with 2
tanks instead of 3. But the energy expense is minor compared to the
other 2 items. And especially compared to all of your other energy
usage during the day, including your computer. Of course I'm of the
mind set that aquaria are luxury items that are inherently wasteful.
But I'm also a cynic that can't grasp any real significance of me
running plus or minus an extra couple hundred watt devices compared to
the current use and waste of the rest of the world.

[nut]

Jolly Fisherman wrote:

> I wouldn't worry about filtration. It would be more efficient with 2
> tanks instead of 3. But the energy expense is minor compared to the
> other 2 items. And especially compared to all of your other energy
> usage during the day, including your computer. Of course I'm of the
> mind set that aquaria are luxury items that are inherently wasteful.
> But I'm also a cynic that can't grasp any real significance of me
> running plus or minus an extra couple hundred watt devices compared to
> the current use and waste of the rest of the world.

Filtration uses less power than heating?

I'm pretty sure the heaters on my 30G tanks have 3amp fuses, whereas my
filters have 5amp fuses... and the heaters only run for some of the day,
whereas the filters are 24/7.

My partner and I have often wondered about the power requirements per tank,
but my way of thinking is that we-get-the-bill-we-pay-the-bill... i'm very
curious to learn exactly how much fish tanks cost to run per week if someone
else can be bothered to do the math.

Tank1 - Non-aggressive community
1x 20W Strip light, 150W heater, 2x poweheads.

Tank2 - Convicts
2x 20W Strips, 150W heater, 1x external cannister filter

Tank3 - Dempseys
1x 25W daylight , 1x 15W nightlight, 150W heater, 1 powerhead, 1 small
external cannister

Tank4 - Livebearers
1x 20W, 100W heater, 1 powerhead

Lights are on 12-18 hours per day, heaters rarely kick in cos the flat we
live in is pretty warm anyway.




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Dick]

On 26 Nov 2006 19:53:48 -0800, wrote:

>Hi guys,
>
>Given the current concerns about climate change, we're getting serious
>in my household about reducing out energy use . We don't own a car,
>and we're renting our flat (so solar hot water etc is out). We've
>swapped all our light bulbs for compact fluorescents, and bought a
>nice, old fashioned fan for the living room so that we don't have to
>use the airconditioner.
>
>We've identified our fish tanks as a large energy sink. We have a 350
>litre community tank in the living room, and a pair of 100 litre tanks
>in our bedroom. I've done a quick and dirty estimate of their power
>usage, as follows (using
>http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi to calculate heater
>power):
>
>Main tank:
>
> Heating - 110W - 964KWh/annum (120x48x60cm tank with 10mm walls
>heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
> Lighting - ~200W - 876KWh/annum (2 x 55W CF + 2 x 36W T8 on
>electronic ballasts)
> Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Eheim canister)
>
>Small tanks:
>
> Heating - 150W -1314KWh/annum (Two 60x35x45cm tanks with 6mm walls
>heated to 8 degrees C above ambient (discus))
> Lighting - ~50W - 219KWh/annum (One 36W T8 on magnetic ballast
>shared across both tanks)
> Filtration - ~10W - 88KWh/annum (Two small Eheim canisters)
>
>The whole lot adds up to 3.5MWh/annum, or 1.5 tons of CO2 each year,
>which is pretty scary.
>
>Anyway, I've been toying with ideas to reduce energy usage. Firstly, I
>think I'll remove the T8 fluoros from the big tank, and put AH Supplies
>reflectors on the 55W compacts. I calculate that the increase in
>reflected light will pretty-much make up for the decrease in power. I
>can then knock a few watts off the T8 on the other two tanks by putting
>it on an electronic ballast.
>
>After that though, it gets hard. My next thoughts are to double-glaze
>the tanks. If I get some 3mm window glass cut, I could space that a
>few millimetres off the main glass. It's difficult quantifying what
>sort of power saving I'd get, but I'd guess something like 50% is
>doable...
>
>Has anyone tried double glazing? Any other ideas?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Suzy

I haven't done anything to save electricity, but I did create a spread
sheet to monitor the change in power useage when I got my 75 gallon
tank. within 6 months I had 4 more, 3 ten gallons and one 29 gallon.

I found that the consumption in kwh annualy went from 900 kwh to 1100.
I checked for monthly changes with roughly same results.

When you think of insulating the tank from heat and cold, I think you
will have to include that the tanks are going to assist heating your
house in the winter and absorb air conditioning cooling ( I know this
is not phrased right, but I hope it is intelligible.)

Personally, I figure energy consumption is secondary to the pleasure
the tans give me. I doubt you can gain much in energy savings without
losing some accessibility.

Good luck

[IDzine01]

I was recently looking into ways to counter my energy consumption too
and a friend of a friend told me about the Carbon Neutral website that
she uses when she travels.

www.carbonneutral.com

Basically, this company will counteract your CO2 production by planting
trees, wind farms or other renewable energy of your choosing to
directly offset your energy consumption. It does all the math for you
to determine the CO2 produced for a given flight, road trip, party or
wedding reception, your home or business, etc. You can even choose a
generic "carbon neutral citizen" option that will tell you what the
average person in your country uses in energy and then you select where
your donation goes to make you "neutral." (That's the simplest and
easiest method)

Here's a link specifically to their "shopping" section, which goes over
some of the individual (rather then business) programs and shows you
donation options.

http://www.carbonneutral.com/shop/index.asp

I really loved the idea. Hmm. maybe I will write about it in my blog
today. ;-)

Best regards,
Christie


wrote:

> Any other ideas?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Suzy

[Jolly Fisherman]

On Wed, 6 Dec 2006 20:22:07 -0000, "nut"
> wrote:

>Jolly Fisherman wrote:
>
>> I wouldn't worry about filtration. It would be more efficient with 2
>> tanks instead of 3. But the energy expense is minor compared to the
>> other 2 items. And especially compared to all of your other energy
>> usage during the day, including your computer. Of course I'm of the
>> mind set that aquaria are luxury items that are inherently wasteful.
>> But I'm also a cynic that can't grasp any real significance of me
>> running plus or minus an extra couple hundred watt devices compared to
>> the current use and waste of the rest of the world.
>
>Filtration uses less power than heating?
>
>I'm pretty sure the heaters on my 30G tanks have 3amp fuses, whereas my
>filters have 5amp fuses... and the heaters only run for some of the day,
>whereas the filters are 24/7.

Think about that for a second. You don't have a filter than
continuously draws 600W or a heater that always uses 360W for a 30 gal
tank.

Whereas you probably have around 100+W heater that goes on more than
you think. And your filter draws continously *at least* 1/5 the
heaters power.

My Rena XP3 (350 g/h) draws 19W. Most of the unheated Eheim canisters
use between around 5-30W.

>My partner and I have often wondered about the power requirements per tank,
>but my way of thinking is that we-get-the-bill-we-pay-the-bill... i'm very
>curious to learn exactly how much fish tanks cost to run per week if someone
>else can be bothered to do the math.

Don't bother trying to guesstimate with math. Buy an inexpensive
Kill-A-Watt meter and track the *actual* usage. While you're at it
use it to see what your TV and other appliances do when you think
they're "off."

>Tank1 - Non-aggressive community
>1x 20W Strip light, 150W heater, 2x poweheads.
>
>Tank2 - Convicts
>2x 20W Strips, 150W heater, 1x external cannister filter
>
>Tank3 - Dempseys
>1x 25W daylight , 1x 15W nightlight, 150W heater, 1 powerhead, 1 small
>external cannister
>
>Tank4 - Livebearers
>1x 20W, 100W heater, 1 powerhead
>
>Lights are on 12-18 hours per day, heaters rarely kick in cos the flat we
>live in is pretty warm anyway.

Of course anybody's assessment implies YMMV as there are *many*
variables and usage patterns.

Most of my fish are most comfortable 80+F and I'm most comfortable in
the mid 60's F. So I rely on heaters perhaps a bit more. Esp on my
smaller tanks. Heck even my brine shrimp/misc egg hatchery gets a
100W heater.

But when I start lighting rooms, turning on a TV, running a computer,
and heating a house, the aquariums don't look like such a big deal.