economy

Question
My tanks are growing in number and so is my power bills. What is the most economical  and efficient  way of filtering the tanks?  Large external carbon filters or under-gravel filters. I am talking 10 tanks at the moment.Taking in consideration air pumps, what is the most sensible way?  

Answer
Hello Derek!

Though I am not an expert on -this- subject of aquarium keeping... I'll try my best....
Here are the ratings of economical use for the two filters you listed:
    ~Undergravel Filters~
  Economical to use-Five star rating

   ~The next filter you mentioned I am guessing is an hang
on the back power filter? Well, here is it's rating:
          ~Hang-on-back-filter~
            Three star rating.

Now if you meant a canister filter here is it's rating-
             ~Canister filter~
              -Four star rating.-
Well this doesn't give you much le-way so to speak.
One method you could try is to cut back on so much filtration (but keep some sort of reasonable filter going) and make up for the lack of efficient filtrations with large very frequent water changes depending on what species of fish you have and what size tank you have them in. If you have fish considered to put a heavy load on the biological system then you must be consistant and stick with the large, frequent water changing schedual. I can't neccesarily lay-out a ideal water changing schedual unless I know what size tanks you have and what species of fish.

I have a dozen fish tanks ranging in size from 1 gallons to 55 gallons. On the smaller 1gal tanks which contain only 1 male betta to each, is run simply on a undergravel filter which is better for the betta since the currents made by other filters are too-stronge unless you can tone it down.
My larger aquariums are run by Hang-on-the-back power filters which have always worked wonders for all my aquariums and their occupants.
It's very difficult to say which is the most sensible way because it would just be wrong to cut out filtration that is vital to a very dirty fish in an aquarium. If you were going by the rating of economical use then it seems that the undergravel wins the highest rating of cost effective filtration. Air pumps usually don't use much wattage so they shouldn't be your main problem in most cases.

As I have said before I am not very experienced in these areas of fishkeeping but I did go through a crisis of high power bills (which was lowered a bit by switching lights off the aquariums and in my own house and keeping the computer and Tv turned off when not in use) my experience is probably different than yours....
Remember we all have problems with power bills being high especially us devoted Aquarist who love fish so much that just about every room in their household has 1-2 aquariums lining the walls! (like me :) We just have to be wise and research different ways to make it more economical and still be able to enjoy our wonderful fish we love.

I hope I helped, If you need anymore info, or have more questions, just email me again! I am eager to help!

Best of luck to you and your aquariums, Derek!

Happy holidays and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~