Power bill

[Kfactor]

Am trying to cut my power bill down . I have a 75g with 30g sump my discus are around 7to 8 months old and keep the tank around 86 . I think with my tank and ageing barrel and all heaters it’s uses around 100$ in power . I have 2 200w and a 150w in my maain tank and a 300w in my ageing barrel . Does anyone have any ideas I can try . I tried getting rid of my discus but I can’t do it I have to much money and care about my discus to let them go !

[jeep]

You might take a look here... After all these years I still use this stuff...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?38372-Tank-insulation-a-money-saver!&highlight=reflectix

However, in my experience, the power companies always know when you are cutting back and always find a way to increase your bill to compensate!!! :confused:

[Filip]

I would try to find an cheaper alternative for heating the aged water .
Instead of heating it 24/7 in a course of a couple of days between Wcs , maybe you can heat it instantly with bigger / stronger water heater couple of minutes right before you WC ?
I don't heat my aged water , I just pour 5 pounds of boiling 100 C water in the aging tank right before WC .
That gets my 20 C room temp water to 26-27 C , where I want it to be for a WC . My aging tank is only 20 gallons though , so i guess you may need more than just a couple of pounds of boiling water.

[LizStreithorst]

Take the temp in your tank down to 82 F. Discus are quite comfortable at 82. You can also wrap your barrel and part of your tank in that shiny metal looking insulation that comes in a roll. Don't know the name of the stuff.

[jeep]

Take the temp in your tank down to 82 F. Discus are quite comfortable at 82. You can also wrap your barrel and part of your tank in that shiny metal looking insulation that comes in a roll. Don't know the name of the stuff.

Reflectix. It's in my post above, although the photo's may have disappeared over time...

[jeep]

Yeah, photo's are all gone on that thread. Here's a link to the product. I know Lowes sells it off the shelf...

I also used it to insulate all my duct work when I installed my new furnace and central air...

https://www.reflectixinc.com/products/double-reflective-insulation/

[Adam S]

Unless the new water is 20+ degrees different, a dip into the 70s isn't going to hurt your fish.

[Kfactor]

Thanks for the reply’s . Am slowly lowering tank temp over time right now . I do 50 % 50g daily water changes and I ordered that reflex stuff from amazon should be here in a few days .

[Willie]

Here's what I did for my storage containers:

1. Fill them with warm water, not cold water
2. Wrapped the outside with insulation
3. Covered them up
4. Put them on 2 X 2's, so they're off the cement floor

Worked like a charm, Willie

[brewmaster15]

Am trying to cut my power bill down . I have a 75g with 30g sump my discus are around 7to 8 months old and keep the tank around 86 . I think with my tank and ageing barrel and all heaters it’s uses around 100$ in power . I have 2 200w and a 150w in my maain tank and a 300w in my ageing barrel . Does anyone have any ideas I can try . I tried getting rid of my discus but I can’t do it I have to much money and care about my discus to let them go !

Look up diy solar hot water heaters... depending on where you live you can make a solar collector for ridiculously little money ..cooler climates you may need to invest in vaccum tubes for winter.

Al

[candymancan]

Turned my heaters off a year ago.. temps are 78-80f discus have been fine for over a year eith those temps.. i know breeders who breed in 70s as well.. mine lay eggs in those temps.

Discus dont need 86f bash me all you want but im not the only one who noticed this.

RO and aging water is also silly.. I go straight from the tap into the tank and no issues.

[RogueDiscus]

Turned my heaters off a year ago.. temps are 78-80f discus have been fine for over a year eith those temps.. i know breeders who breed in 70s as well.. mine lay eggs in those temps.

Discus dont need 86f bash me all you want but im not the only one who noticed this.

RO and aging water is also silly.. I go straight from the tap into the tank and no issues.

Except you just posted about losing discus to the plague or something.

[candymancan]

Except that started over 2 years ago and i mentioned i turned my heaters off a year ago. Sorry lol.. but the heaters have nothing to do with that AT ALL :)

[Paul Sabucchi]

I agree with all the advice given so far to minimize unnecessary expense on your electricity bill, so insulate your water barrell (and fish tanks!) as much as possible, keep it lifted from the floor and possibly in a warm room (in winter I keep mine by the radiator in the kitchen) and if possible fill the barrel up with water heated by cheaper means, at least here in Italy electricity is more expensive than methane, so I fill up my bins with hot water from the tap (I have supervised as the plumbing was redone from scratch with multilayer tubing and the boiler has a stainless steel heat exchanger).
What I may add is: how long do you actually need to age your water for? If your tapwater does not show a massive drop in pH then you may get away with just a few hours. This appears to be the case with my tap-water, where the main problem is just micro-bubbles, I fill my bins at 1 p.m. (in winter with warm-ish water) and turn on a wavemaker (Sunsun JVP 110, it only uses about 3w), by 8.30 p.m. the water goes in the fishtank.
As to the possibility of keeping discus at considerably lower temperatures, although it may be possible (and I would welcome reports of more people doing so with no adverse consequences), I still keep mine toasty at least while they are growing. A lower temperature may be even compatible with breeding (that at the end of the day is the strongest drive in nature) but it will slow down metabolism so also growth rate and effectiveness of the immune systems. I regard the advice generally given on this forum not as a dogma that must be followed blindly but as the result of a huge amount of cumulative experience that is likely to give, particularly to those new to discus, the best chances of achieving good results with minimum problems.
Justy my 2 (euro) cents

[Pices]

Paul,
You give such reasoned and well thought out advice. Glad you are part of this forum.
Patty

[Paul Sabucchi]

We all have to learn from each other and in a forum like this there is a place for "traditionalists" but there must also be room for mavericks without whom it risks becoming staid and boring, as long as the welfare of the fish is understood to always come first

[brewmaster15]

People are free to keep their tanks however they see fit however there is a world of a difference between surviving and thriving. A discus may "survive" being kept in sub optimal conditions but they wont "thrive" . Sooner or latter you will have health issues. .Any organism has a range it can tolerate for its environment... but as you move from the optimal range the organism gets more stressed out, becomes more prone to illness. Longevity decreases.They become sick more often and tend to die sooner than if kept more optimally. Its basic biology. If you want to know what a discus optimal range of temperature is look at the wild populations. Im sure they can survive at temps lower than that but there is a cost to the organism if you exceed the minimal range they need. Generally the range for discus is low to mid 80s.

If the goal is to keep your fish alive a bit "survive" regardless of the stress it puts on them keep them at whatever temp you want and accept what happens. If the goal is to give them the parameters they need to "thrive" try to match as many of their natural habitats parameters as you can. Thats what.good husbandry is all about. Its a responsibility to care for your animals that allows them to thrive...not just survive a bit.
Jmo.
Al

[Second Hand Pat]

Let's look that this from a logical perspective. Discus are considered a warm water fish. We know this from literature written by folks whom have gone to the Amazon and measured the temp along with other parameters in a variety of locations. Once the rain season starts the water cools, wild discus spawn and the cycle starts over again. So discus could be adapted to cooler temp for a short period of time. But what if the discus are subjected to cool water all the time. It certainly slows down the metabolism of the fish and also it's ability to react quickly to any disease or stress parameters. Pretty sure long term low temps will have a decidedly harmful effect on the fish.
My two cents,
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Another point is we KNOW that domestic discus thrive at warm temps. They eat well, grow well and live a long time. Enough said.
Pat

[Paul Sabucchi]

Again I agree with all of these arguments, as Al stated all organisms have an optimum of parameters to which I they are adapted, the more the environment deviates from these and the harder the compensatory mechanisms (process called homeostasis) have to work, but this will take it's toll both at general, organ and cellular level. It is also my very personal and unsubstantiated opinion that the concept of "wellness" for want of a better word is very important especially with those animal species that, being naturally a prey, have been naturally selected not to show signs of weakness or disease on pain of attracting predators; very often these species show signs of being unwell only once the problem has become very serious. For these reasons I think I owe my fish the effort to try keeping them in their sweet spot.

[Second Hand Pat]

candymancan, not one single person has been rude to you in this forum, not one. Many have disagreed with you however and you can not seem to handle that. You are free to keep your discus however you choose. However we have to counter some of your advice simply because it does not reflect the best way discus should be kept. We have many new members who come to learn about keeping discus or who come to this forum because they bought sick discus and need help with them. We are here to get them off to the best start or help them recover the discus they have.

We have tried to help you and honestly you do not want help. You have countered all the good advice given. Enough said!
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Apologies everyone. The Forum has a zero tolerance policy for vulgarity. Inflammatory posting is not welcome here.


The offending post has been removed.

al

[LizStreithorst]

I'd been keeping an eye on this guy ever since he posted in his plague thread but it wasn't until this morning I went back and looked at his posts in other forums that I had missed. He seemed to have been itching for a fight for a while but nobody here took the bait, in fact the mods were very polite to him. He did the only think he had left to do...just went and hung himself. We don't need people like that here.

[Kfactor]

Sorry if my thread started somthing . Thanks for all the help I took some advice and will be turning down the heat over time till I reach around 82to83 . I also wrapped My sumps 3 side and aging barrel in that silver insulating stuff I got of amazon. Ps this site is amazing with all the info and knowledge u guys have to offer can’t be beat. At the end of the day it’s all about the discus .

[jeep]

Sorry if my thread started somthing .

You didn't start anything other than to ask a legitimate question... Good for you!!! The only way to learn is to ask!

[Filip]

You didn't start anything other than to ask a legitimate question... Good for you!!! The only way to learn is to ask!

+1 .

And I'm very glad if our answers helped you in any way . That's why we are here for , to help each other improving in the hobby and have fun while doing it :) .

[LizStreithorst]

This was in no way your fault. We had a troll. I'm not the only one who was watching him. He was sure to cross the line at some point. Unfortunately, he chose your thread to go ballistic in.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Besides...nice change to think about colder seasons and having to heat up the water. Here with all the heaters off the tanks are between 84 and 84 .5F without cooling, which is fine and dandy if you are a discus but if you are most other kind of fish probably not so much. I have fans on most other tanks, on the bigger ones I usually put two 120mm pc fans. They can bring the water temperature down 6-7 Deg F, in the smaller ones 80mm fans and on the nanos I use aFan ones