POWER YIKES

[chago09]

WOW I'm 20 years old living with my girlfriend in a condo. Were both students and serioulsy don't use a lot of power at all. But now that my air conditioning has got started my power bill shot way up. Usually its around $70CND for my 1200sq ft condo. Last month was a juicy $110. Some of you with bigger houses may think thats nothing but my bill is always within a $5 range so when it jumps $40 it worries me lol. Does anyone know any good ways to reduce electricity costs for fish tanks???? Also does anyone know how much watts a AC 110, 70, 50 all use????? About lights mine is a 65watt FC and its on about 10 hours a day. Does that light really make a difference to my bill????

[greyhoundfan]

no clue on the lights.. but one thing you can do is insulate our tank if it isn't already.

go to tank section forum, search for reflectix. it is a long reflective role of insulation that looks like a sun shad protector for your car. I wrapped this around my 100 G tank, and I only need one heater 300 Watts, to keep it at a toasty 87 degrees. Right now, I have it off, and my temp is rock solid at 86 degrees. My ambient room temp is around 70 degrees.

Got my stuff at Lowes..

[DarkDiscus]

I can tell you that a 100 watt lightbulb running 24/7 will cost you about $3.00 a month, cause my garage is on a second line and before we had the electric door openers installed, that was all that was running in my garage and the bill was religiously $3.00 a month.

John

[chago09]

is there anywhere I can look to see the amount of watts used by a Aqua Clear filter???

[Alight]

It could be worse. Our April bill was 4 times more than our electric bill had ever been with 3 times the usage. Turns out they misread the meter, so we'll get most of that back.

You should have the cost of your power somewhere in your bill. It should be somewhere the cost per kilowatt hour. A kilo watt hours is just 1000 watts X hours used. So, you should be able to calculate how much any appliance or bulb you are using is costing you. Just multiply the number watts it uses (like the 100 watt bulb) x number of hours you use it and divide by 1000. For a month of 100 watts (bulb on 24/7), that would be 100 x 720 divided by 1000 = 72 kilowatt hours.

You will find that your heaters are using the bulk of your tank's electrical power. Filters use very little, and your lighting is on less of the time than your heaters--although heaters cycle on and off, and are usually on less than half of the time. Watch the lights go on and off for 10 minutes or so to get an idea of the actual time they are on.

[wolfbane]

Chago, a lot of us have had huge power rate jumps recently, the companies are charging a huge rate jump with fuel going up so high. At least here in the USA. Natural gas skyrocketted and truck fuel too, so the power bills will be horrendous for us all now.
The others have given sound advice, insulate the tanks if you can, it will cut down on heater run time.

[Cosmo]

One of the influencing factors on heater usage is the ambient room temperature, so your home thermostat plays a role as well. Plugging holes, gaps, etc (weatherstripping) to make the room more energy efficient will help .. potentially moreso than your tanks influence on your energy bills.

Jim

[yeomans]

Are your tanks in an airconditioned room? The extra stress on the aquarium heaters to keep the tank warmer because the ambient temp in the room is now lower could be raising your electric costs.But that seems like to much of a jump.

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I know im not looking forward to june because our electric is being raised 72%!!

This is an insane rate hike but we havent had an increase in quite a few years here in maryland. Theres been all kinds of law suits and campaigns going on for the past 6 months trying to do something about it so we are still waiting to see what happens.

I can see 300 & 400 dollar gas and electric bills this summer....... and thats without fish tanks!! I can only imagine how high it will go if i do my fishroom liike i want.

Im looking into some timers to put on some things to help alleviate some costs.

I usually run my pool filter only at night but have been thinking of using a timer so it will only run every other hour when its on.

I was wondering if i could do something like that for my air pump that runs my air filters? Maybe have it shut off for 15 minutes every hour instead of constantly running?? Is that doable??

[Spices]

Whether you have a tank or not, the costs of EVERYTHING will increase! Doesn't matter. But you can, as mentioned above, insulate and pad the tank to keep it warm. But in summer time, you remove the heater (once temps hit the 90s). This will save pennies in your electric bill. Running the filters is not much at all since it utilizes small amounts of energy.

The cost will come in repurchasing a new tank if your tank all of a sudden cracked. This will be a pretty penny to fix and deliver to your home.

Enjoy! :sun:

[mmorris]

I live in New England and keep my temp. at 50 during the night and 55 to 60 during the day and evening during the winter. I bought the reflectix and put it on the back, the bottom and the far end of my 55 gal. Is it possible to put it over the light on the top? I have a 40 watt, four foot strip sitting on glass. The light is on a timer. Or am I asking for a fire?
Is it possible, as well, to cover the front and remaining end at night and remove them in the morning? Logistically I could figure out a way; the issue is, would it freak out the discuss every morning when I removed the insulation? Would they get used to it? I didn't have a discus tank last winter (unfortunately!) and if I don't take drastic action, my tank will heat my living room! Thanks
Martha NTD

[CliffsDiscus]

is there anywhere I can look to see the amount of watts used by a Aqua Clear filter???

The Aqua Clear 50 and 70 uses 6 watts of juice, the wattage is on the
bottom of the motor. Your better off using the AC70 with the larger capacity.

Cliff

[April]

well..if the temperature is 86 degrees outside..turn off the aircon..and turn off the tank heaters..and voila less hydro. aircons take alot of power. its the heaters..and aircon. not so much the aquaclears. if your concerned about them..get hydro sponges and one pump that can pump a few hydro sponges. one plug.
i guess they are right..your cooling yourself off..but also the room so then the heaters need to run.
but yes..winter is coming..so insulation around the sides..and that insulating styro between the tank and the stand. helps alot.

[crazie.eddie]

Chago, maybe reduce the lights to about 8 hours. Use more ambient lighting. Use a glass top or hood on your tanks, keeping the heat inside the tank. With an open top, the water easily evaporates and cool air makes contact with the surface, which will cool the tank.