aquarium heater running cost?

[tonylowe]

does anyone know approx. how much it costs to run an aqurium heater a year for a 120L tank? parents wont let me have a tropical tank saying it will cost too much.

[critter_crazy]

I got the same thing from my mum, but we haven't noticed a difference in the powerbill since I started up my tropical tanks

[Caryl]

Based on freshwater only, at a temperature of 22˚C, total consumption for a small tank (38L) is about 150kWh a year. A medium tank (114L) 150 - 200 kWh per year and a large aquarium (208L) 200 - 400kWh per year. This is using basic equipment only and merely an average to give you an idea. Exact usage requires an ampmeter, which measures actual energy used and not the energy based on the max output, as some equipment does not run full time (eg heater).

watts/1000 x hours x kWh cost x 30 = 30 days cost of aquarium

[David R]

If its inside the house then the heater will only be a small part of the cost. If you're already running a cold water tank with all the filters and lights then adding the heater won't cost much more at all (depending on the tank size, obviously).

[#!CrunchBang]

my mum worked out that the two tanks I have would add an extra $7 per month if the heaters were on half of the day.

edit: this includes heaters, filters etc.

[Caryl]

I have never noticed much difference in the power bill even when I had 18 tanks running.

[Jaxxnz]

its not the cost the tank heater..its the cost of buying new fish& fish food you have to consider if you going into this hobby :slfg:

[jamosfish]

You can buy a device from bunnings that plugs into the power point in between the socket and the lead going in. It shows Amps, Volts, watts and you can program in your power price and it will show you how much the running cost is and the overall cost for a set time. Grab one and set it for a month then either show or pay for the minimal power you will be using.

I checked how much power 3 2fters were using the other night and there was a total of 58 watts at the time. There is a big 4 outlet air pump, hang-on filter, 2 50w a 1 100w heaters. It was approx 7pm and all the tanks have 2cm poly on back and sides.

[blueether]

You can buy a device from bunnings that plugs into the power point in between the socket and the lead going in. It shows Amps, Volts, watts and you can program in your power price and it will show you how much the running cost is and the overall cost for a set time. Grab one and set it for a month then either show or pay for the minimal power you will be using.

I checked how much power 3 2fters were using the other night and there was a total of 58 watts at the time. There is a big 4 outlet air pump, hang-on filter, 2 50w a 1 100w heaters. It was approx 7pm and all the tanks have 2cm poly on back and sides.

There is a slight problem with measuring filters/pumps at the same time as 'direct draw' (ie heaters, incandescent lights).

Some power meters will cope with phased draw but normally only if it is the only item being measured. Heating (lights/heaters etc) is easy to measure, and many devices can bet tested at the same time with the same results as measuring them each individually.