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WTB: sponge filters

mrkillie

Members
What kind of business is it? Make sure you have separate meters, and ask to see the usage-or better yet, read the meter yourself. I've had many times where the meter readers misread the meter. I'd also do as Andrew said and account for everything that's plugged in. Estimate your usage and call the electric company to get a rate. Calculate your own cost that way.

Also, go to this link and look at the November 2010 issue-there's a good article on power consumption in the fishroom:

http://www.aclcpa.org/tank-tales.html

I have some extra sponges - if you come to the ACLC meeting tomorrow at That Fish Place (1:00), I'll bring the box and we can work out a deal if you still want to go that route. A blower, though is probably not going to save much electric. HOBs are about 5-6 watts each, if I am not mistaken, while the blower is probably 60-80 watts, so 14 tanks at 5 watts = 70 watts. You will save money in filter cartridges though.

Joel
 

mscichlid

Founder
You need to call the electric company. If you guys are all on the same meter, I think that is illegal if he is renting out the space above the store and the meters are not separate. At the very least, the utilities should be included. You are definantly being screwed. My mortgage is way less than your electric bill.

I understand your enthusiasm for getting your tank dreams going and all, however, you could use that wasted money on renting a house and not having someone dictate a price to you that you have no control over or insite into what the actual costs are. Your landlord could be just blowing smoke up your keister because he saw all the tanks and figured that you were gullable enough because you love your fishroom so much. I bet you that his mortgage on that building is less than what he's demanding for electricity.

You should find out something before investing more money in your fish habit. That guy could be telling you anything no matter what you do. How will you know if the central air solution and sponge filters will actually make a difference on the power consumption? You gonna let this guy let you know? I wouldn't.

Good luck.
 
Go with the poret filter material and make the maten style filters for your tanks.

Filter maintenance goes way down with these, you clean the filter once per year.

The material is expensive but lasts forever from what I have heard, so you never have to replace it.

I just bought a 1 meter cube of this shipped into Madison Wi to switch my fish room over to it.
 
Oh and another thing you can do is purchase this

http://www.menards.com/main/buildin...-25-staple-tab-insulation/p-136986-c-5778.htm

and cut and tape it to the back and sides of your tanks.

We had a member in our club who got a meter from the local power company that meassures the energy used over a given period.

he put this on a heater on a tank and ran it for three days. Then used this insulation and wrapped the two sides and the back of the tank and then measured the energy usage. He saw a 66% reduction in energy usage heating the tank once it was insulated. I have purchased this and started the process of insulating my tanks with it.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Really good tip, Randy.

Covering your tanks well also helps with hear retention...

Matt

Oh and another thing you can do is purchase this

http://www.menards.com/main/buildin...-25-staple-tab-insulation/p-136986-c-5778.htm

and cut and tape it to the back and sides of your tanks.

We had a member in our club who got a meter from the local power company that meassures the energy used over a given period.

he put this on a heater on a tank and ran it for three days. Then used this insulation and wrapped the two sides and the back of the tank and then measured the energy usage. He saw a 66% reduction in energy usage heating the tank once it was insulated. I have purchased this and started the process of insulating my tanks with it.
 

Wydukey1991

Members
well i asked the manager & found out some more info....the meter IS THE SAME so the $2500 is for apartments and business....but we dont pay utilities hes just saying we need to cut back on the electric use cuz hes a di*k but they also told me it went up to $2800 now for this month.

Joel i dont know if im gonna make it 2 the meeting tommorow, matt said he dont think he can and my buddy aaron said he has other plans and dont know if hes gonna have time so i dont think i can catch a ride.

Randy how much did a 1 meter cube cost you?
 

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
I just saw this thread and all I have to say is lmao. Thanks for the solid chuckle.

First off, Stephan's sponge filters are not $25 each.

Second, what is the business downstairs doing that they're pulling $2500 electric bills, growing "tomatoes" indoors?
 

mscichlid

Founder
The electric is for apartments and business. The landlord is paying the bill and *****in'. His relationship with our fish friend is too personal.
 

Wydukey1991

Members
jonclark96- im going with 6x6x6in cubes. im running high stock with breeding

Tony- glad it made you laugh! but the $25 is what he said for 6x6x6in cubes with a jetlifter? im not even sure what that is lol but he told me to go with that. and the business downstairs is a restaurant/lounge, and the mgr said it up to $2800 currently lol

i was talking to stephan from about 8pm-12 last night thru email and thats what he was telling me to do.....

i wish Marine590622 would get back on here and tell me where he got his cube from. id just rather make my own its a HELL of a lot cheaper lol
i can either make three 3 1/2x3 1/2x3 1/2in or two 5x3 1/2x3 1/2in for approx $8 and 20 mins time so thats about $100 which was the most i was looking to spend. i was hoping to b able to just buy a bulk cube for like $40-50 and cut to size and build myself but cant find ANY material even similar to it.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Good luck finding foam that cheap. The cheapest I have ever seen anything like poret foam is about $50 for a 2'x2'x2" sheet. I'd imagine that the 3'x3'x3' cube cost a pretty penny.
 

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
I checked out his website and yup, the 6" cubes are $25. Any particular reason why you're going with 6" cubes? He sells 39"x4"x4" pieces for $25. This will make 9-10 filters for the price of one 6" cube.

I have pretty heavily stocked tanks in my room and use a lot of medium to large Hydro sponges. The thickness of foam around the central lift tube on the biggest ones is approximately the same as it would be on a 4" cube. In my opinion, there's no reason why 2-3 of the 4" Swiss Tropical sponges shouldn't do the trick on most tanks around 40 gallons.

With the shape of the foam being shipped, you can always cut them longer/taller. 4"x4"x6" would be about the equivalent of a big Hydro sponge. You can make about 6 of these for $25 worth of foam.
 

Wydukey1991

Members
the reason im going bigger is because i want to be able to have the ability to have 1 sponge in there that can handle at least a 55-75 gallon tank by itself so if i need to set up another tank for emergency use i can pull 1 out to set up new tank quickly. i would actually need the 10" tall 6x6" to do that.

for sure im going to b running all this....one 75 gal, three 55 gal, four 29 gal, nine 20 gal, and ten 10 gal plus whatever else that gets added (blower is 95 watts so it can handle way more) lol i was going to just get 1 huge block and cut sizes as necessary but he dont sell them apparently (even tho it says at the very bottom of this page http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret%20Filter%20Foam%20Pricelist.html AND I QUOTE "...many shapes starting from about 1 skid (volume 40x40x80")..." but yet he told me thru email "the largest cubes we have are the 13x13x13"

now is it just me or does it seem like he just wants to sell me 30 small pieces, instead of 1 large piece, to make more money?

I MIGHT BE OUT OF LINE but that's just whats coming to mind first
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
I'm a fan of Poret (I use sheets of it as dividers in several of my tanks), but for not much money you could get regular sponges and boxes for all of your tanks.

ATI Hydro Sponge Pro Filter #5 are rated for up to 125g and cost < $10...and boxes are like $2.50 each from kensfish.com....

Matt
 

vinman

Members
I like to use the hydro sponge #4 corse. I agree with D.O.W. a #5 or #6 would be the same amount of foam I get them from Jehm Co.. I was working at a pet store here in the bronx, I had the owner get the Hydro sponges for the store. I got ordered them from John. I'm sure he will give you a deal on a lot purchess . Tell him I sent you . Good Luck

Tell # 1 800 521 6258
sales@jehmco.com
 
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