Power saving tips and ways to save money!?

[Reefer Rob]

The only real effective way to reduce energy consumption is to move to a smaller tank... or goldfish

[ckmullin]

The bain of keeping little critters outside their environment, the power needs. But SW is sooo interesting!

[Baldy]

Originally Posted by ckmullin

The bain of keeping little critters outside their environment, the power needs. But SW is sooo interesting!

Agreed. This hobby/obsession/lifestyle is definitely worth it.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Baldy

Agreed. This hobby/obsession/lifestyle is definitely worth it.

Like I said before, go look for a cave,... or be happy and wait for the big asteroid...

[PFoster]

When smart meters were put into effect in Ontario I just reversed my light cycle.

I ran the Leds for suppliment in the morning and evening and ran the main lights (t5's) in the evening during "off peak hours.
My power bill decreased and I didnt spend $0.01 extra.

I did also get a programable thermostat and run the furnace/ac more during off peak hours

[mrhasan]

LED heater anyone?

Put waterproof leds on aluminium blocks and submerge them into the water. They are "efficient" at emitting heat too isinit?

Ok I shouldn't have said that being an electrical major But then again, its not a crime thinking outside the box (or inside the water over here)

[Baldy]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

LED heater anyone?

Put waterproof leds on aluminium blocks and submerge them into the water. They are "efficient" at emitting heat too isinit?

Ok I shouldn't have said that being an electrical major But then again, its not a crime thinking outside the box (or inside the water over here)

Lol. Being an electrical major, you probably already know this but what makes leds so efficient is they put out more light energy vs heat energy than the other types of lighting. I never realized hoe much heat t5 can produce until I saw a buddy's 6 bulb fixture. Wow.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

LED heater anyone?

Put waterproof leds on aluminium blocks and submerge them into the water. They are "efficient" at emitting heat too isinit?

Ok I shouldn't have said that being an electrical major But then again, its not a crime thinking outside the box (or inside the water over here)

Actually not such a bad idea really & I've found myself wondering why someone hasn't given this a go. Not only will you get at least some heat transfer to the water, you'll also benefit from having the light source very close to your livestock. It's common knowledge that distance is a killer when it comes to light loss. Downside is that you won't have that funky shimmer caused by a point source of light shining through surface agitated water.... and you'd probably need to scrape off algae once in a while... ok, I think now I know why no one's tried it...

Anyhow, waterproof SMD LED light strips have been available for quite some time now & I'm using a couple of 5050 strips to supplement my DIY 10 watt multichip build. Of course I don't have them in the water, but on a smaller system this could work quite well. It's a low voltage light source, so with proper water proofing it's no more dangerous (probably less so) than having a 300 watt heater running on 120 VAC submerged in your tank. I've ordered some LEDs that are submersible for my daughter's wedding this summer. No reason you can't throw a strip of waterproof SMD LED lighting into your tank.

Here's a photo of the waterproof RGB SMD 5050 strips I have. They're covered with a substantial layer of silicone like material. All you would need to do is keep the connectors out of the water, or just gum them up with silicone too. There are also more powerful 5630 SMDs available.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I switched to an LED tv which uses a quarter the electricity or less compared to my LCD tv (under 50w compared to over 200w). I've also switched out almost all my tank lights (fw & sw) to LED and my house lights are either 9w LED or 13w CFL bulbs. Went from over 2000w MH at my worst MTS to under 400w of LED over the tanks alone.

My oven/toaster oven has convection heating which cooks food faster and more evenly, so save power & works better. I also built a covered pergola over my deck so on hot summer days, instead of turning on the 12000 btu AC unit in the house as much, we now go outside and turn on a couple of fans which use a fraction of the electricity.

I only buy and use EnergyStar appliances, which will pay back the purchase price in energy savings. The Bosch dishwasher uses only $28 worth of electricity for a whole year's worth of regular use and you can really save on power with a more efficient front-loader washing machine compared to top-loader. We also hang dry clothes year round (inside in winter, outside the rest of the year) because the dryer is an energy-sucker.

Even though Burnaby doesn't have the differential time-based rates yet, we usually run the dishwasher & laundry machine overnight anyways.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Like I said before, go look for a cave,... or be happy and wait for the big asteroid...

Think about it. People moving to caves but for their typical demand, they would needs:

1. Longer transmission wires (loss)
2. Lights (loss)
3. Heating (loss)
4. Hunt for food (loss)
5. Damage to caves (loss)
6. Bears would be homeless (loss); thegrizz will have answer for this I am pretty sure
7. Bats would be homeless (loss)
8. Batman would be ****ed (loss)
9. More losses (loss)