Aquarium electric bill...

[candymancan]

So I was thinking of how much power my tanks use and what my electricity bill is being raised too because of them..

Is there anyway to calculate this ? My power company charges like $2.20 per KWH..

I've added up the total lighting wattage my 8 tanks have and its 383 watts, I have 2 150 watt heaters and 1 250 watt heater, along with smaller heaters for my small tanks which add to like 30 watts total.. 4 of my tanks use internal filters so its only like 20-30 watts total for those.. The lights are on like 10-12 hours a day usually.. Im not sure how often the heaters come on for and off for.. obviously the filters are on 24/7..

So Lets just do the lighting alone.. 12 hours and 383 watts and 2.20 per KWH how much power am I using per month ? Do they sell little power things you can hook up to your power bar that measures the power usage ?

 

[t4runnr]

https://www.google.com/search?q=kil...qGBKjP8QGBoIG4DQ&ved=0CBwQsxg&biw=320&bih=548

This might be what you need. You will have to have all your equipment plugged into a power strip then to this.


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[aqua_holic]

So Lets just do the lighting alone.. 12 hours and 383 watts and 2.20 per KWH how much power am I using per month ? Do they sell little power things you can hook up to your power bar that measures the power usage ?

There are 1000 watts to a kilowatt, so the wattage for the light is 0.383 KW.

The lights are on for 12 hours everyday, so multiply 12 by 30 to get how many hours the lights are on in a month.

So multiply the hours by the kilowatts to get KWH, and then multiple that by the rate (2.20) and you will have the monthly cost of running the lights.

Power where I live costs $0.16 per KWH. 2.20 seems pretty high. Are you sure it's not 22 cents (still really high...)

 

[candymancan]

Well according to Dominion power in Virginia on their website they said that its 2.20$ per the first 800 KWH... but I don't understand what that means.. Ill just tell you my bill my electric bill in sept was $195 I used 1499 KWH soo im terrible at math how much is that then per KWH ? I guess that would be what .13 cents per KWH ?

So If my lights are using .383 x12x30 days that means my fish tanks lights are using only 137 KWH per month so $14 a month in electricity.. I wonder how much the filters and heaters use though. I guess it isn't as bad as I thought.. but 1499 KWH seems like an awfull lot... I wonder what the hell is using so much power I gave gas so my stove and heat is all natural gas.. The A/C and heat haven't been on much at all because of the temps.. lol hmmm I guess I never wondered why my electric bill was so high

 

[Brookster123]

I'm pretty sure the heaters are the electricity hogs, also high power flourecent, mh and pc lighting.

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[amyb_70]

It's like an IQ Test. Lol, I'd advise to call your electric company and ask. They should be able to give an idea you have all the numbers. I say this serious, no sarcasm intended okay. If they charge as much as my company, customer service will earn their pay. . When I called and my bill was broken down and explained over 50% of what I pay goes for customer service and other things like that, not part of electricity or gas.


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[candymancan]

I'm pretty sure the heaters are the electricity hogs, also high power flourecent, mh and pc lighting.

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Well My 30g has duel T5 Normal outputs and a 100w heater set at 80f , the 55g has 4 T5 Normal Outputs and a 200w heater set at 86f, the 27g Hex uses 2 T5 Normal Output and 2 18 inch T8 and a 150w set at 84f, and my new 44G uses Duel 65w Power Compact's and a 150w set at 86f. The 10g bow uses a 20w heater at 78f and a 14 inch T8, and then my 5.5g uses a 15 inch T8 and both 2.6's use the same heater.

The weird thing though is like my 27g never had the duel t5's until maybe 2 months ago and the 55g only had 1 duel t5.. I also was short 1 200w heater and my temps were all in the 78f not 86.. Then I got my discus and temps went up and I got more lighting.. yet my power consumption for the month compared to prior months stayed the same.. But that might be due to me using less A/C and the added lighting and keeping the heat so high in the tank evened it out.

Im just going to buy 3 of those meters for my power outlets where my tanks are measure my power consumption for the tank for a month and see how much they are racking my bill up lol.. Regardless I like having 8 fish tanks lol, maybe im nuts but I enjoy having different fish and different styles of tanks.

 

[Brookster123]

The real question is... will you do anything differently once you confirm what we already know? Tanks are a money pit haha plain and simple. My bill has gone up about $40-$45/mnth. Since setting up tanks.

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[Mebbid]

I figured out the price on running a 55g cichlid tank once. The price on it was really negligible. I can't remember exactly, but the price was around $10 a month

 

[hennaartist]

The only true way to know how much electricity something uses, is to turn off anything that isn't fish tank related (this includes fuzes to water heater, etc). Then go outside read your meter, wait a pre determined amount of time (such as 5 min, 30 min, or 1 hour) and read your meter again.

 

[gilpi]

The real question is... will you do anything differently once you confirm what we already know? Tanks are a money pit haha plain and simple. My bill has gone up about $40-$45/mnth. Since setting up tanks.

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Not only the electric but the water bill as well!

Im now down to two tanks.

 

[candymancan]

The real question is... will you do anything differently once you confirm what we already know? Tanks are a money pit haha plain and simple. My bill has gone up about $40-$45/mnth. Since setting up tanks.

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Answer to that question is no I wouldn't lol.. I might be inclined to turn the lights off sooner.. but my mom is a fish tank freak like me, I mentioned to her about the electric bill and she goes.. we got the tanks for a reason we like fish so whats the point of turning the lights off and having a dark tank I want to see them she said lol.. She got me into this Hobby with her 30g tank she bought back when I was 7-8 years old when my dad was still alive.. Her mom used to have a 100g tank with plants back in the 60-70s she said when she was a kid so that's how she got into it

We still have that 30g tank running to this day 22 years and she bought my 27g hex when I was 14-15.. Its still running.. However she doesn't know much about tanks like changing water and live plants and lighting ect... She used to tell me live plants are impossible to keep because they always died back when my dad was alive, and that they always carry snails (we had a snail explosion once when my dad was alive) and she never does water changes.. She does clean the tank but maybe once every 2 months lol

Then I started getting my own plants, and learned more and more and more, and I wanted bigger and better, and then we got the 55g, and then I wanted to try Nano tanks so I got a 2.6g cube, and she wanted a Betta tank so she got the 5.5g, and then I got myself a 10g bowfront, and bought her a 2.6 cube and gave her mine so she had 2 in her bedroom on the book shelves so she can look at them when watching tv.. Then I got my 44g Pentagon because I like odd shaped tanks.. Lol we got 8 tanks in the house... 1 in the living room, 1 in the dining room, 1 in the kitchen, 2 in her bedroom, and 3 in my bedroom. Lol I think were maxed out now though..

The basement is being rented out and if we ever don't rent it out and have it for ourselves again I always wanted to get like a 100+ g tank

 

[gilpi]

I figured out the price on running a 55g cichlid tank once. The price on it was really negligible. I can't remember exactly, but the price was around $10 a month

My wife picks up on this real fast since she takes care of the bills!



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[Mebbid]

My wife picks up on this real fast since she takes care of the bills!



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Its like a frog in water that's gradually heating up. If you build your tanks slowly maybe she won't notice the huge difference in electricity Consumption. A heater here, a light there. Break down a smaller tank for a slightly larger one

 

[techrider62]

Tank Electrical

Try this

Tank Electrical

And here one more

http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/ElectricalConsumption.php