Walsted?

[mhancock]

Got back from being away today, and smart meter reckons £2.10 spent most on electricity!

Only things on are two pond pumps, external filter for aquarium, and 300W heater set to 27oC.

So two questions:

1) Would giving the pumps and external filters a good clean help efficiency?

2) Have been thinking anyway about going Walstad and doing so with temperate fish. Will re-home angels and get platties. Tank is very well planted indeed, and has compost at the bottom. How many platties could I have in a 4 foot aquarium with Walsted?

Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

Cleaning filters will help slightly but is probably not going to make a lot of difference to the power bill.

Most power filters are pretty efficient and most of the power used for aquariums is from lights and heaters.

Is the tank insulated and do you have a coverglass on it?
Do you have lights on the tank?

You can tape 1-2 inch thick sheets of polystyrene foam to the back and sides of the tank (on the outside of the glass) and it will insulate the tank.

If you have a coverglass on the top of the aquarium, it will trap heat and reduce power consumption. Use 4, 5 or 6mm thick glass because it's less likely to chip than thinner 2 or 3mm thick glass.

Turning the heater down to 25-26C can save a bit of power.

Reducing the lighting time by an hour a day can help reduce power consumption. If you use fluorescent lights, consider changing to a LED light unit because they provide more light for less power.

If the aquarium is near an external wall, move the tank so it's next to a wall that is a room divider or into a warmer room like the lounge room.

 

[mhancock]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. The lighting is led, I am going to get rid of the heater and adjust stock to cope with temperate water.

Would little plecs (no idea of variety, they are 8cm long and won't get much bigger) be ok at room temperature?

 

[Colin_T]

Depends on what the room temperature gets to. Most tropical fishes can tolerate 18-30C for a few months so if the temp drops to 18C for a few months over winter, they should be ok.

Barbs, danios, some livebearers and some rainbowfish can tolerate cooler conditions (14-16C) and we had rosy and ruby barbs, as well as swordtails and platies outdoors all year round in Perth (Western Australia). I even had a number of different species of rainbowfish living outdoors. The temperature dropped to 2-3C overnight in winter and hit 40C plus during the day in summer. It took a few generations for the rainbows but eventually we had strains that would live outdoors all year round.

 

[AlexT]

Does the issue sometimes come down to "living" or "thriving" ?