How much does it cost to run your tank?

[John K]

There are some variables here, like the temperature that you keep your tanks and the temperature that your house is kept at. A warm house and a cool tank will minimize your costs. Being in southern California, this might be the case for you.

I bought a Kill-A-Watt meter a couple of months ago and did some testing on my 50 gallon. I keep my tanks on the cool side, at around 75 degrees. Room temperature was normal winter temps for me - 67 degrees during the day and 65 at night. Electricity cost is .10 per kwh.

Heater: 2*100W = 36 kwh per month = $3.60
Light: 2x32w T5 NO for 8 hours = 15.36 kwh per month = $1.54
Power Head: 8W = 5.76 kwh per month = $.62

Total: 57.12 kwh = $5.71 per month at .10 per kwh

Interestingly, the heater ran for exactly 25% of the time, the figure mentioned by HD. And no, I didn't forget the filter, I don't use filters on my tanks just a powerhead for circulation.

[A.D.D.i.c.t.]

$300 is a bit high per month, I'm sure your tank isn't the only thing affecting the bill that could be reduced. There are so many variables to that number. My 10 gallon has a HOB, 26 watts of CFL lighting w/ 10 hours per day, and no heater. I keep my heat in the home set on 75 and the temp in my tank is fine. You could use this as a reason to upgrade your equipment. "But MOM, it's more Efficient!!!" That's what I would do.

[Kinection]

The reason the electricity bill is so high is probably because my dad NEVER unplugs his laptop. It's been plugged for practically a year since the battery sucks on it. Lasts 10 minutes. If I were to unplug it like everyday then add a tank and keep the lights on longer, would there be a noticeable difference in the bill? The charger I think is 60-90watts, can't find the specific model on the internet, but most of them on the Brand say 90watts, and one 65.
Does anyone here know the range of watts an air pump uses to run an air pump?

[John K]

I have a Tetra Whisper 10 here that says it uses 2.2 W.

[Kinection]

Oh. The air pump I'm using uses 2.3W XD.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Originally Posted by AquaticStory

Oh. The air pump I'm using uses 2.3W XD.

so the air pump costs $0.25 cents per month

the laptop at 90 watts costs $9.72
that's also assuming its draining the full 90 watts 24 hours per day.. its likely using around 10 watts at idle if the screen is on

so unplugging it will likely do no good

turning the heat down 2 degrees on the a/c unit will likely bring the same monetary gain as not having ur tank FYI
you can also open the window screens during the day to let more heat in, and at night close them to prevent drafts and heat loss. little things help

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

so the air pump costs $0.25 cents per month

the laptop at 90 watts costs $9.72
that's also assuming its draining the full 90 watts 24 hours per day.. its likely using around 10 watts at idle if the screen is on

so unplugging it will likely do no good

turning the heat down 2 degrees on the a/c unit will likely bring the same monetary gain as not having ur tank FYI
you can also open the window screens during the day to let more heat in, and at night close them to prevent drafts and heat loss. little things help

Thanks for the help man. So I'll give my parents 1$ a month. Keep the change. xD They probably wouldn't take it. LOL

[lochaber]

Yeah, I don't think the laptop is drawing a whole lot of power. even if the battery is completely dead, it will just be drawing about as much power as it needs. A lot of people using off-the-grid electricity favor laptops, both because they can charge when electricity is plentiful (daytime for solar) and use that energy when needed, and also because they tend to use a lot less power then most desktops.

But it's good to think about these things. A lot of our equipment/appliances draws power constantly, even when turned off, just to keep it in a ready-on state, or something similar. One of the things those Kill-A-Watt meters are good for, so that you can see how much energy your TV/dvd/stereo is using when it's supposedly turned off for the night. Some people will plug these things into a power strip, and just turn off the power strip when they don't plan on using things plugged into it for a while.

Good luck with it, hopefully the energy consumption concern is genuine, and not just a scapegoat.

[Whiskey]

I bought a Kilo watt meter a few years ago and spent some time tracking energy consumers. I have allot of computers running in my home (I work in IT) and I also have fish tanks, plus I live in an apt in CA (Worst power prices ever). I tracked these devices over at least a week of average use, most of them a month, then did calculations to find out what they cost per month.

My 75G fish tank with 4x54 w T5 costs $15 per month.
A server (Like a dell poweredge) costs about $35 per month
A standard desktop computer running 24/7 (No sleep) costs about $20 per month (Not counting the monitor)
My Laser printer which is well used (~500 pages per month, I'm in school as well) costs $1.87 per month.
My laptop if left to run 24/7 with no sleep mode costs $0.57 per month.
My 25G tank with 2x55 w PC cost $7.50 per month before I replaced it with the 75.

Hope this helps!
Whiskey