how your tanks effect your electricity bill

[aggrofishkeeper]

How much does your tanks effect your electricity bill? I'm not even going to ask about water because everyone knows water is dirt cheap. And fish food is cheap too if you know where to get it from. So, please answer the questions below;

1. How many tanks?
2. What kind of lighting and watts used?
3. What kind of filtration and how much and watts used?
4. How much has your electricity bill gone up

[Zulaab]

My 180 gallon tank.

Mag 18 = 150w / hr on 24 hours a day @ 30 days = 108kw
Stealth 200w heater on about 6 hours a day @ 30 days = 36kw
250w of lights with fans on 12 hours a day @ 30 days = 90kw
25w for power heads on 24 hours a day @ 30 days = 18kw

House temp is 72 degree's average. House is 2350 sq ft
At 14 cents a kw I am looking at 252kw of power = $35.

Now I have over estimated everything just to be on the safe side.

[aggrofishkeeper]

Wow over 22 views and only 1 person answered. Thanks Zulaab.

Since I'm starting another tank, I was just wondering what kind of electricity bill I would be looking...

[myjohnson]

I already told you foo!

Don't want to believe me.

[blacksmith37]

What do you want the answer to be ?; Media. politicians and environmentalists are amazingly (to me) creative/ignorant in how they count /don't count energy consumption/ and production.
When the A/C is on ,the costs are much higher. Basically, every watt you put in is converted to heat and the A/C pumps it out; eg, 200 watts of light, filter motors ,etc is 200 watts the A/C removes, which I guess is a total consumption of 400 watts.
With no A/C you just count the direct watts used (remember to count the ballast power for fluorescent lights eg the ballast for a 65 watt bulb may use an additional 10 watts.)
When I lived where they have winter, I took some comfort knowing that the energy put into aquariums warmed and humidified (very important) the house.
Whatever you use ,you/we will be paying dramatically more in the future as we are forced to use "green" energy.

[peterp63]

yeah, cap and trade gotta go!

[PhishPhreek]

How much does your tanks effect your electricity bill? I'm not even going to ask about water because everyone knows water is dirt cheap. And fish food is cheap too if you know where to get it from. So, please answer the questions below;

1. How many tanks? - 24 (+100 betta jars)
2. What kind of lighting and watts used? 12 - dual 40w flourescent shop lights on wall sw (<8hr/day)
3. What kind of filtration and how much and watts used? 24 HOB various size and wattage. (avg 7w x 24hr/day)
4. How much has your electricity bill gone up - never went up, the fish moved in before I did.

been using "Green Mountain" energy ever since I built the fishroom

[CichlidFan]

I have 8 tanks in the house, and I bet, if I took them all out, my bill would not go down that much. I think that some companies use the average or estimate method in which to charge home owners according to their past history with said companies....

I know when I switched from one provider to another, the new provider actually sent a person out to read my meter, and the following months bill was significantly lower than the company I had before them, and my power useage habits had not been changed or modified.

My point, I don't believe a couple of tanks are going to impact your bill in a way which would make you consider the hobby as expensive...

In your reference to the water bill....in comparison, if you ran your water on full pressure...24/7 ...as you do with the power.....it could very well add up by the end of the month.

Just me 2 cents...

[peterp63]

I disagree.... this is one expensive hobby!

[CichlidFan]

I disagree.... this is one expensive hobby!

I would agree with you, that the hobby overall is expensive, but the cost of the electricity to run all the toys is a small part in my opinion.

CF

[ddaquaria]

I recently lowered my bill (by almost $100) by doing two things.

1. Put glass tops back on my tank which cut down on the evaporation.
2. Changed my lighting schedule during the week. Mon - Fri the lights are on for a total of 4 hours versus 13 hours.

Tanks:
8 up and running - all but 2 covered with glass
lighting - t5ho on all tanks with 2 bulbs per tank for everyday use
4 tanks run 7 to 9 and 6 to 8, 2 tanks run 7 to 3:30, and 2 (the smallest) run 7 to 8
6 tanks run a eheim 2028 + mag 12 (or mag 9.5) + heaters + wavysea
2 (smaller ones) run mag 18 split between them and heater

[peterp63]

that's expensive, too. I'm running 3 large tanks and two small tanks and I'm sure I spend over $100 per month to run them.

2 - 2260's
2 - 2262's
2 - 2217's
1 - XP3
1 - XP4
1 - 2028
2 - mag 9.5
1 - mag 12
4 - AC 110's (HOBs)
1 - fluval 404
2 - vortecs
3 - K4's
4 - MJ 1200's
1 - 250W x 3 MH light
1 - 175W x 3 MH light
1 - 96W x 4 PC light
2 - 36" fluorescent lights
1 - plant light for mangroves in sump (maybe 30 watts)
3 - Aquaclear 70 powerheads

Okay.... I think that's it. Can someone compute this up for me? I think I'm getting charged 12.5 cents per KWH.

[wesleydnunder]

that's expensive, too. I'm running 3 large tanks and two small tanks and I'm sure I spend over $100 per month to run them.

2 - 2260's
2 - 2262's
2 - 2217's
1 - XP3
1 - XP4
1 - 2028
2 - mag 9.5
1 - mag 12
4 - AC 110's (HOBs)
1 - fluval 404
2 - vortecs
3 - K4's
4 - MJ 1200's
1 - 250W x 3 MH light
1 - 175W x 3 MH light
1 - 96W x 4 PC light
2 - 36" fluorescent lights
1 - plant light for mangroves in sump (maybe 30 watts)
3 - Aquaclear 70 powerheads

Okay.... I think that's it. Can someone compute this up for me? I think I'm getting charged 12.5 cents per KWH.

I can if you can get me the wattages on the motors for the different filters and pumps and powerheads.

Mark

[Zulaab]

Mark / Peter.. here is a break down of his stuff. you make the calculations.

2 - 2260's 65w
2 - 2262's 80w
2 - 2217's 20w
1 - XP3 19w
1 - XP4 31w
1 - 2028 25w
2 - mag 9.5 93w
1 - mag 12 110w
4 - AC 110's (HOBs) 14w
1 - fluval 404 25w
2 - vortecs 28w
3 - K4's 12w
4 - MJ 1200's 20w
1 - 250W x 3 MH light
1 - 175W x 3 MH light
1 - 96W x 4 PC light
2 - 36" fluorescent lights
1 - plant light for mangroves in sump (maybe 30 watts)
3 - Aquaclear 70 powerheads 20w

Now Peter should list what is kept on for how long each day like day lights and if any power heads are shut off during the night.

[wesleydnunder]

Thanks, Jesper. I'll do it when I get home.

Mark