Reef Winterizing: Tweaking your tank to save money during the cold?

[Rag Gnar]

The increase of operational costs is far lower than losing my tank...

1. Clean my two 1000w heaters before the winter, I have the Apex switch between them to elongate lifespan. (tertiary heater ready to heat the DT in an emergency)
2. Radiant oil heater on low in my sump room really helps lower cost of heating.
(the large amount of live rock in my system help retain heat, slow to raise temp on super cold days though)
3. If I ran MH, I would extend my daytime
4. Looking at a battery system that charges during low cost energy hours and alleviates main system consumption during high-cost hours

*Fighting the Colorado winter

 

[Chrisv.]

200ml antifreeze per liter, and make sure it makes it into the plumbing.

 

[lagnew904]

Winter in Florida. Most likely won't change anything.

 

[Susan Edwards]

My tank is in a 10x10 room--my office. In the winter I keep house around 72-74. Turn heat off at night. Might shut door to office at night maybe. I also always leave the window cracked a bit (and others in the house as well) as I like fresh air. Things will be cheaper in winter due to no ac running. Already the bill dropped by over 100 bucks.

Main things I'll do is upgrade one heater from 100w to a 200w. I have 1 300 w so that should be good for 225 total volume. And 2 make sure I have gas for the generator. Used it twice this week. Thinking of a plan/place to put it to make it easier for me to get too. And have hubby show me how to turn it on!

Depending on humidity, might need a humidifier.

 

[sfin52]

Basement systems are no good in the north. Keep em on the main lvl.

What. I keep my tanks in the basement and no issues.

 

[ClownSchool]

unless you're like me and have a wood burning stove in the same room as 2 of my 3 tanks....

So, should I be worried about using my fire place in the same room as my tank?

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

For me my DC return pump finally died, so I am looking to add a Pan or Iwaki style return pump, one that adds heat to my water, I've been looking for one to buy I have not found one, I have an Iwaki 30 pressure pump the one that is off kilter for the return, not pointing straight up.

 

[Bpb]

This thread by @zoa what inspired our QOTD today!

So yes winter is coming and is already here for some of you and with that comes higher energy bills. Of course lights, pumps, heaters and all of our aquarium equipment add to the mounting increase is costs so what can we do about it? What do you do about it? Let's talk about it!

1. What are some things you can do to help bring down the cost of your aquarium during the cold months?

2. Do you have a plan in place to reduce cost or do you just absorb it and leave everything like it is?

Living in the south, winter automatically means cheaper cost of living. No changes necessary to the tank. With central air and heat, the inside of the house basically remains the same. Just have to run the AC less. Doors and windows open more. That’s about it

 

[X-37B]

Only thing I do in the winter is add heaters to both of my systems.
Still have not added a heater to the frag system yet. Its in the snake room that stays 75. House stays 75 summer and 68 winter.

 

[OrchidMiss]

So, should I be worried about using my fire place in the same room as my tank?

Not necessarily. Just keep an eye on the temp in the tank. Mine will go up to about 80 degrees, but I keep frozen water bottles handy and a fan to keep the temp down.
Also, I have to make sure the ATOs are always filled, as there is increased evaporation.

 

[jtroxel1]

It gets 40 below here regularly and I don't see above freezing temps from November thru Mid March. I run an extra heater, and have extras on standby. I seal all of my windows and keep extra blankets and duck tape close to the tank. I also feel up plastic bottles with RODI to heat up. The power around here seldomly ever goes out thankfully. I only need 150 watt heater for my tank technically, but I run 200 - 250 watt heaters due to the extreme cold.

Reminds me of my days in Fairbanks, Alaska. We would see at least one week of negative 50 degrees F every year. Saw -70 once; that one got a lot of people - frostbite and worse. Didn't have a fish tank back then, but I did have a boa constrictor that had to be kept warm - crazy times.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Keeping 175 total gal of water heated in the winter sucks. My windows are ancient and I only heat a couple rooms in my house the room with my tank in it gets so cold I can see my breath, so I run 2000 watts in 200 watt heaters (in case any of them fail like they often do). I use a glass lid on my display so that helps and I stick insulation board on three sides of the display thankfully 3/4 inch glass helps keep it at temp. I'm seriously considering wrapping the tank in bubble wrap this year so I don't get 1200 dollar electricity bills like last year.

 

[Mark Bradley]

In London the winters are not too dissimilar to the summers. Don’t personally do anything - the central heating is raised, not to the necessary temperature of the tank, so not sure what impact that has - if any.

 

[Aboynamedsous2]

This thread by @zoa what inspired our QOTD today!

So yes winter is coming and is already here for some of you and with that comes higher energy bills. Of course lights, pumps, heaters and all of our aquarium equipment add to the mounting increase is costs so what can we do about it? What do you do about it? Let's talk about it!

1. What are some things you can do to help bring down the cost of your aquarium during the cold months?

2. Do you have a plan in place to reduce cost or do you just absorb it and leave everything like it is?

I let algae grow on my astrea snail shells to look like little Christmas trees. If that counts.

 

[MillennialReefer]

I cover my main display with a piece of solid 1/4 acrylic to minimize evaporation and retain heat. My heater doesn't turn on as much when I do that. The lights still penetrate, didn't notice anything different in the corals. Did that last winter, but kept it like that all year.

 

[Shooter6]

I think a lot of you are in for a real surprise, when in some areas of the Country, your utility bill is going to double.

Only question is if that's enough to get you to move past "doing nothing" (?)

Your house, your tank, your money...

My plan that I've already implemented:

* (non reef related) reduced my water heater to the lowest setting, where the hottest water i can get is 120°

* (non reef related) set my furnace for Winter at 66° (not 68 or 70 like in years past)

* thru Apex, moving down from 78° stable to 76° stable. Sacrificing coral growth in warmer tank temps to keep electric bill down

(Making my house 66° and the tank at 76° .... a 10° difference my heaters will have to make up)

* my light schedule will stay untouched but using all LED anyways

* my sump is in the basement and I use a Reeflo barracuda return pump that draws about 350 watts. Absolutely my biggest energy consumer. Thinking about using Apex to shut it down for 12hrs during light peaks during the day (10am to 10pm) and just run my one Vortech in tank for water movement at the waterline

Via Apex I can already see I went from about 7amps down to 4amp daily avg from these adjustments I've made

Switch to an abyss pump, uses a ridiculously low amount of power. Cost is high but also has a 10y warranty

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

For you guys that are shutting things off, Watts are Watts, no matter where they are coming from. Doesn’t make any sense to shut off an immersed 32 watt pump, to make up that with 40 watts from a heater. I use the Silver Insulated Bubble Wrap on the back and bottom of my tank. Due to the stand design, the bottom is accessible. Also I wrap the Sump. I have homemade cover, for parts of my Sump, that aren’t normally covered. My Brute Container is wrapped too. I know someone that has a huge Aquarium, he heats his aquarium with a PEX takeoff from his Gas Water Heater. The Pipe is coiled and immersed in his sump, a small inline pump circulates the hot water on demand. Says it’s about a quarter of the cost of electric heaters.

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Last winter I woke up to my room at like 55 degrees from the window being open and the Inkbird alarm going off from low temps. The 30 gallon tank had a 25 watt heater that just couldn’t keep up with the dropping temperatur. I added an old heater and within hours the temp was back up. Thankfully the tank didn’t suffer any major losses, just a little STN and growth stunt. Lesson learned, never undersized your heater.

 

[Freenow54]

Basement systems are no good in the north. Keep em on the main lvl.

I think the mountain man has you beat. I live in the great white north, and run my home at 69 F. Have had no problems, and my basement is warmer than upstairs