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Filters timed to turn off at night for 2-3 hrs

john arnold

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28 Jun 2018
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Somerset
Has anyone got thought of putting filters on a timer so they turn off for 2-3 hrs at night as this would save some money?
 
The amount of energy you would save won't be worth risking your bacteria to die off due to lack of oxygen or possible failure of the timer.

Curious what others will say.
 
Hi all yes heaters too all on 23c so dont really want to turn them down any more and mostly canister filters, sponge filters are crap for planted tanks and yes look awful, i just wanted to know if the filter bacteria would be fine after just 2 hours not running?
 
I don’t know the exact spec of the filters you’re running, but by way of example, if you had 15 Oase Biomaster 350’s running, switching them off for two hours would save you…. 15 pence a day. I’m not really sure in the grand scheme of things if that saving would be even noticed?
 
Maybe if you would turn them on and off several times during the night period, you wouldn't keep the flow off for too long at a time. But then you could have durability issues with your filters having to start many times per day...
 
If you use CO2 then maybe a bigger saving would be for some tanks to go lo tech? Just a thought.
 
As mentioned above I'm not sure the potential savings warrants it, a fluval 407 (23 watts) cost less than 2p an hour to run. Canister filters in general are pretty efficient, maybe you have older less efficient filters?

Having said that I'd wager a fairly clean filter will manage fine without circulation for a couple of hours, its happened a few times to me via power cuts (6 ~ 8hrs) and didn't cause any problems. IF any of the bacteria does start to die off in this time fame I would suspect it will quickly be replaced (once established bacteria multiply quite fast) once the circulation (oxygen) returns.

So in a planted tank, with clean ish filters I don't think a 2hr pause would wipe out a filter.
Would this pause repeated every night cause issues? 🤷
 
The filter might survive OK but I dont think it is a good idea, there could be other repercussions?
However with so many tanks, perhaps you are in a position to experiment with one or two especially if they have no fish or low fish stock.
 
I'm not sure turning filters on an off constantly is conductive to a long filter life. Wear and tear will probably cost more in the long run than you'd ever save.

Are all the filters on different tanks or do you have multiple filters on your tanks? If it's the latter then you might be able to do away with the odd one and replace it with a powerhead for flow (depending on what you are keeping).

You would also probably save more by insulating the tanks with polystyrene or looking at conserving heat in the room.
 
I would think that altering heater/lighting would be a much better option than the minimal gains cutting the filters out a little at night would, surely it wouldn't help their lifespan either.
 
hi all

ok thanks for all the input, they are mainly oase biomasters and filtomsart tanks and they are for display in my shop and my electric bill this month was high so was just thinking of ways to cut down, having this many display tanks does pull people in so dont really want to shut any down, ok well just gonna have to sell more to pay for them. its just every now and then i panic when i see the bill as we all do
many thanks fishy people
 
hi all

ok thanks for all the input, they are mainly oase biomasters and filtomsart tanks and they are for display in my shop and my electric bill this month was high so was just thinking of ways to cut down, having this many display tanks does pull people in so dont really want to shut any down, ok well just gonna have to sell more to pay for them. its just every now and then i panic when i see the bill as we all do
many thanks fishy people
Could you not sell the existing fish stock and change it for temperate species instead? Many cyprinids will do fine at 18-20 degrees.
 
Could you not sell the existing fish stock and change it for temperate species instead? Many cyprinids will do fine at 18-20 degrees.
well its an aquascaping and terrarium shop so its all about the plants and tropical fish but hmmm that could be doable i guess ill have a think, thats pretty resourceful thinking by the way
 
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