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cycle pond pump off and on
Hi all,
I live in the Los Angeles area with a 2,200 gal Koi and gold fish pond (right now, only one Koi and about 20 gold fish). The pond has two Aquascape Pro 3000 gal/hr pumps with about an 8 foot head to the bio filter which feeds a 20 foot stream and waterfalls (each pump has about a 2K gal/hr flow at 10ft head). I normally only run one pump at a time other than for cleaning or treating. My question for the group is do any of you cycle your pump off and on at night? I have converted the house to photo voltaic (solar electric) and have become very conscious of the electricity that I use. I currently am going to be able to generate a small surplus yearly (i.e., I generate more electricity than I use), but would not mind sending more back to the grid if I am able to do so. I read where the bacteria in the bio filter will die off if they do not receive water changes within five hours. I have a timer that is programmable hour by hour, and I was thinking that at night I could run the pump for an hour and then have it off for an hour, on for the next hour and then off for an hour, etc. The Aquascape Pro 3000 uses about 280 watts per hour, and if I cycle it off for four hours a day, it would save about 408 kWh a year; six hours a day would save 613 kWh a year. Those quantities could be enough to power an average house for a month. I am thinking green here, but do not want to damage the health of my bio filter or my fish. I think the pond probably is over-pumped and over-filtered and I am just burning energy that could be sent elsewhere. I would appreciate your experiences, advice and opinions on the nightly hour on, hour off cycle proposition here. Thank you, doug |
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