# Saving electricity?



## Helensturtles (Jun 30, 2012)

Hello!

Right I currently live with my parents and my mum is becoming increasingly unhappy with her electricity bills due to me having a turtle!

Has anyone got any ideas how I can reduce the amount of electricity I use?

Currently I:
- Have a water heater with a thermostat that is on 24/7
- A filter that is on 24/7
- A basking light and a UVB light that are on for about 8 hours a day. 
All of these are using electricity.

I also have a filter in my fish tank that is on 24/7

Any ideas? Any at all?!

Thanks

Helen


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Ummm, get rid of the turtles? Lol only joking...

There's not a lot you can do, is the basking lamp on a thermostat? If not you may be able to bring the bulb a little closer and put a dimming thermostat in place to maintain the temp without the bulb being on full blast all the time. 
You could also maybe try reducing the amount of water, either by dropping the level or by putting more stuff (rocks, substrate, etc) in the water so the heater has less water to heat, therefore it'd be on less time.

Other than these ideas (coming from my frazzled little brain :blush I can't really suggest anything else.

Hope this helps

Dave


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## Paul112 (Apr 6, 2007)

What species of turtle? Many are okay at room temp, and the aquarium heater will be where most of the wattage is.

Alternatively, buy some thin polystyrene sheeting and clad the back/sides of your aquarium to help keep more heat in.

Best,
Paul


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

As above, most temperate species don't need a water heater after the first year, room temp is usually adequate for species such as Sliders, Maps etc...

You probably don't need a stat on the basking lamp, I've never bothered with them, and you might get away with using a lower wattage bulb. You don't say what type of UVB lamp it is, but if it's a tube then you could switch it to a T5 which is cheaper to run, for one thing they run off an electronic ballast which is more efficient than the old fashioned magnetic ones, and the T5 tubes themselves have an improved output over the old T8s.

I wouldn't recommend reducing the volume of water as most turts end up having too little as it is!

Check the ratings on your filter, many cheaper brands use quite inefficient motors, some of the better filters do the same job or better for less current consumption.


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

I'm researching into this subject ATM for my new house, planning on in creasing my collection with out the bills shooting up! So far I have changed every normal light bulb for silly low watt LEDs and have allready offset my two ceramic heaters! So with this in mind my new house will have LEDs in every light socket and I'm also looking into solar pannles, a few KW worth of pannle put though a storage battery before the tanks should run all I have so far (4 planted tanks inc heat, plant growth bulbs, water filters and such and 2 boa tanks running) off just the solar pannles and have the LEDs just cutting my bill! Tho more research is needed! Is anyone on here using them allready!?! I'd love to see some set ups!
Josh


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## JonnyFrilledDragonLawson (Oct 26, 2012)

if you tell me what wattage all those are and what your provider charges per kw per hour ill tell you exactly how much its costing you per day/month so you can argue back incase she thinks its more than it actually is


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## supatips (May 29, 2012)

I keep 3 tortoises in two enclosures as well as two musk turtles in a similar setup to yours with all me heating and lighting equipment that goes with keeping the turts and torts 

To be honest it was only when the weather turned cold my electricty usage shot up which it did well before I got my turts and torts as I am on a meter I do monitor it quite closely 

Obviously my electricty bill has gone up slightly as a result of my hobby but not to a massive extent like your mum might be suggesting to you (not saying she is wrong or anything like that) but has she been putting the heating on for longer and using electric blankets etc 

I dont have central heating and use oil radiators to heat my house and they can be quite thirsty but my centraly heated friends say the same about that too 

To be honest I think it is just the time of the year causing the rise in the bill not the turtle


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

filters are usually low wattage so use barely anything. 

and a beardie only costs about a fiver a month - using a 100watt bulb and UVB tube on for 14 hours a day. 

So if you threw her a tenner a month it'd more than cover it.


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