wee2 Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 hi guys, have you found your power bill increased a lot since you have started your hobbies. what is the average expendure on power mthly from your setups. Do you have any methods to save up some power?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ichthus Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 I turn off my lights, heater, filter and aerator overnight, weekends, and public holidays. Saves a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxxnz Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 I turn off my lights, heater, filter and aerator overnight, weekends, and public holidays. Saves a bit. Really?? heater are one of main souce of a fish tank..you turn it off in this winter season?? if only we have a simple solar heater for fish tank that would help reduce power alot.. pump filter are not very expensive to run at all.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Re: how did you find your power bill on the hobby??? I generally find it in the mail. The power increase is pretty insignificant. $30ish maybe for a medium sized tank, 400ish liters I turn off my lights, heater, filter and aerator overnight, weekends, and public holidays. Saves a bit.. Your fish must not live very long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted May 26, 2012 Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 lol i t hink that was a joke savings. insulation. thats the best way. i saved a bit using jager heaters and with my auto changer, it utilises the eheims thermostat self checks, this saved me quite a bit, at the time it saved me about 15% of my power useage, using a measurement device to get a good average for 2 weeks and comparing after auto changer is put in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 26, 2012 Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 I only have one tank in the lounge these days so it uses so little power it is insignificant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted May 26, 2012 Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 Yes, the power bill has increased a lot over the years I kept fish. It seems to be increasing faster than inflation. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ichthus Posted May 26, 2012 Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 lol i t hink that was a joke Correct. I can't say I've noticed much from a 110 litre tropical tank on the powerbill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wee2 Posted May 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 lol i t hink that was a joke savings. insulation. thats the best way. i saved a bit using jager heaters and with my auto changer, it utilises the eheims thermostat self checks, this saved me quite a bit, at the time it saved me about 15% of my power useage, using a measurement device to get a good average for 2 weeks and comparing after auto changer is put in. I think heaters are the biggest power user of a set up. my power gose up almost $100 p/m for running two tanks, 800L and 400L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted May 26, 2012 Report Share Posted May 26, 2012 I found having all my tanks in the same well insulated room made it more economical to heat, but the bill would still fluctuate by over $100/month from summer to winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUNAS Posted May 27, 2012 Report Share Posted May 27, 2012 Yes, at a guess about $3 per day increase, some may gag at this, but I dont have sky tv, dont drink or smoke, gamble and its only me and wifey at home. I was warned about the costs of running a cold water local marine and its within budget. The upside to it all is apart from the actual tank and sump size I can double the size of my system and not purchase any more hardware, all was purchased twice as big than required with the idea of not buying twice if I want to go bigger in the future :thup: So far its all working out fine. RUNAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted May 27, 2012 Report Share Posted May 27, 2012 I'm surprised that my chiller is still running most days, just shows how much heat goes into a system from powerheads/filters/wavemakers/lights etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrudd Posted May 27, 2012 Report Share Posted May 27, 2012 160 litre tank and have two 300w heaters, have not noticed much of a difference at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted May 27, 2012 Report Share Posted May 27, 2012 160 litre tank and have two 300w heaters Do you keep it in the fridge?!?! :lol: I was running two 300W Jagers on my 1400L tank, but that was in a well insulated room with other tanks. Still running two 300W on the 400L tank I have now and usually only one turns on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrudd Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 LOL no its in the lounge :gigl: I just found that the tank kept its temp better especially on cold days when I have both in, I used to only run the tank on one, but now with both, even directly after a huge waterchange my tank gets to 26 degrees very quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUNAS Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 I'm surprised that my chiller is still running most days, just shows how much heat goes into a system from powerheads/filters/wavemakers/lights etc Same here I could quite easily turn mine into a tropical marine by incresing the set temp on my chiller, for this reason alone. The plug fell out for the chiller unit and within 12 hours it was 26d. with no heaters, the high for the day was only 16 and we had no heating on in the house. I have been toying with the idea of running my main return pump externally of sump instead of in sump to try and keep this temperature down. If anyone one has done this before Id sure like to hear from you. RUNAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaM Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 mmm power bills...well mine seldom gets below $350 and over winter it gets to $700 + I work shift work and spend alot of evenings out or at work...including getting a meal at work, so the power is pretty much all the tanks etc. My hot water is on night rates. That bill is between $18 and $20 per month...all the rest is tanks etc. I've had the house insulated over summer, but hasn't really changed the power bills yet. My friend living down the street works similar shifts/lifestyle etc. Her power bills sit at about $68 at the moment...mines creeping up to $400. :tears: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 I insulate my tanks with 25mm polystyrene on as many sides as is practical (those I don't need to see through). From experiments that saves me half the power on heating. I set tank temps to the lower part of the fish temp range e.g. if for a fish the recommended temp is 25-28 then I set the temp to 25.. The fish wont be any happier if I had set it to 27. For light I have just recently bought LEDs which are very cheap to run but expensive units though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 Same here I could quite easily turn mine into a tropical marine by incresing the set temp on my chiller, for this reason alone. The plug fell out for the chiller unit and within 12 hours it was 26d. with no heaters, the high for the day was only 16 and we had no heating on in the house. I have been toying with the idea of running my main return pump externally of sump instead of in sump to try and keep this temperature down. If anyone one has done this before Id sure like to hear from you. RUNAS I dont have a sump on my system (native freshwater) but do run a 3200l/h pump for flow and mechanical filtration, this is plumbed in-line and is sitting on the windowsill behind the tank. This has saved a lot of heat going back into the tank if I had of had it running internal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 $107 here, last month 97 the month before with power shop was paying upto 150 with mercury and 100 in the summer 3 tanks, one 3 foot, 2 x 90 litre all heated . So not too bad.. Anyone wanna join power shop drop me a line then I get 25 bucks and you get 50 off ya bill hehe. So i really dont think tanks use that much Mind you my house is well insulated and use gas heater and open fire to keep it warmish saying that its not really really cold yet is it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamBro Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I generally find it in the mail. The power increase is pretty insignificant. $30ish maybe for a medium sized tank, 400ish liters . Your fish must not live very long. :slfg: :sml1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamBro Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I turn off my lights, heater, filter and aerator overnight, weekends, and public holidays. Saves a bit. :rotf: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Is there an accurate way of calculating the cost? I'll be in a flatting situation next year and am curious as to what it will cost to run my small 12L tank next year. 18w light run at 12 hours photoperiod (for the sake of cost calculation), 3.1 filter, and 30w heater. It will be run for about 30 weeks of the year. Most flats seem to keep their lights off down here, so if I leave mine running all day there might be complaints, so I guess I'll just pay up front to keep everyone happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Is there an accurate way of calculating the cost? I'll be in a flatting situation next year and am curious as to what it will cost to run my small 12L tank next year. 18w light run at 12 hours photoperiod (for the sake of cost calculation), 3.1 filter, and 30w heater. It will be run for about 30 weeks of the year. Most flats seem to keep their lights off down here, so if I leave mine running all day there might be complaints, so I guess I'll just pay up front to keep everyone happy. Buy my rough calculations with the cost of running that tank, assuming the heater is running 50% of the time is $5.07. Heater on 100% of the time would be $7.88. Is assumes that the unit cost of electricity is 26c per KWh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Buy my rough calculations with the cost of running that tank, assuming the heater is running 50% of the time is $5.07. Heater on 100% of the time would be $7.88. Is assumes that the unit cost of electricity is 26c per KWh How did you get to this? Interested to see what my tanks would be doing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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