Aquarium power consumption
- Thread starter Modest_Man
- Start date
Yes, but the theoretical numbers don't match up with my real world heating costs. It's off by about 65 KWH (26%) after doing it twice, once for my sump and once for my tank.
If I go along with it and insulate the bottom, back, and sides of the tank and all sides of the sump with 1" polystyrene it hypothesizes that I'll save 11.21 on my heating (which would be 60% of the theoretical numbers). Sixty percent off my heating now would be $15.15 saved per month, about 43% of my total aquarium electricity costs per month.
If you're keeping Central Americans, you could get away with lowering the temperature as well. I heat very few of the tanks in my fishroom (mostly the SA and West African ones).
The Central American and Uruguayan fish are room temp...which is cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer.
Matt
The Central American and Uruguayan fish are room temp...which is cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer.
Matt
Room temperature for me is close to 68 in the summer (currently 69), and in the mid 50's in the winter (the house is usually about 53 in the morning, we heat it up to about 65 in the afternoon). I've got to heat it for sure. I do agree that I could lower it a couple degrees from the 77 it's at now. I can't even imagine how much it most cost the people who keep their tanks at 84 degrees.
I actually experimented with lowering the temps last winter to see how the fish handled it. I noticed that none of my catfish seemed to like when it fell below 72 degrees....73-74 was just fine and that is where I keep my set up now. It really helped with the heating bill since I used to have it at 78
I have my fish in a basement that is 65 in the winter and about 70 in the summer. My system is about 700 gallons total, running off one pump and only four hundred watts of heaters. It is very well insulated though, top, bottom, 3 sides.
I have my fish in a basement that is 65 in the winter and about 70 in the summer. My system is about 700 gallons total, running off one pump and only four hundred watts of heaters. It is very well insulated though, top, bottom, 3 sides.
Insulation is key. My main system has a 210 and a 135 running off a 300G Rubbermaid sump with about 500G total volume. The 210 is in our house which stays in the sixty-degree range and the 135 is in the unheated garage. The sump is in the crawl space.
I run 850W of heat and have no trouble keeping the temp at 80 even with around 80GPD of automatic water changes.
Both tanks and the sump are tightly covered (glass lids on tanks, 1.5" foam board on the sump). My sump is wrapped in two layers of aluminized bubble-wrap insulation (works great for odd-shapes) and all plumbing is covered with pipe insulation. The back and one side of the 135 are covered in 2" of foam board and I closed in the hood to retain as much heat as possible from the fluorescent lighting.
I think you will get the most savings by covering your sump - in addition to losing heat by radiation and convection, evaporative cooling is also at play.
It will be interesting how much you can reduce your power consumption on this tank....
I run 850W of heat and have no trouble keeping the temp at 80 even with around 80GPD of automatic water changes.
Both tanks and the sump are tightly covered (glass lids on tanks, 1.5" foam board on the sump). My sump is wrapped in two layers of aluminized bubble-wrap insulation (works great for odd-shapes) and all plumbing is covered with pipe insulation. The back and one side of the 135 are covered in 2" of foam board and I closed in the hood to retain as much heat as possible from the fluorescent lighting.
I think you will get the most savings by covering your sump - in addition to losing heat by radiation and convection, evaporative cooling is also at play.
It will be interesting how much you can reduce your power consumption on this tank....
Hello; One way to think about the cost of heating tanks that are inside the living area of a home is that the heat eventually becomes a part of heating the home. My guess is that without the tanks the bill for heating the house would still be near the same to maintain the same temperature. All the other pumps, lights and such eventually shed the heat from their operation into the environment of the home as well. During the heating season the operation of tank equipment changes electric energy to heat energy that is shed into the surroundings.
Perhaps one way running such equipment is likely to be an additional cost is if the typical resistance elements of the tank heaters are less effecient than the main heating unit of the home. Resistance type heaters force electric current thru wire with resistance to the flow and the wire gets hot. This is likely the least effecient way to produce heat from electricity. However, I do not know of aquarium heaters that operate in another manner myself.
If the home is heated by an energy effecient system such as a heat pump, high effeciency gas or geothermal heat pump it may well be less costly to raise the ambient temperature of the home with such a system. This should somewhat reduce the load on the less effecient tank heaters as they should run less often.
I have also found that many, if not most, fish can deal with tank temperatures somewhat lower that 80 degreees F. I have usually kept tank temps between 70 to 75 degrees during the cool months with no apparent ill effect on the fish.
Tanks in a garage or basement will be a different story and serious insulation may well be the best way to go.
The summer months is where pumps, lights and such tank equipment will be fighting with a central AC system. Of course the heaters can be turned off during the hot months. It would be an extra increase to the AC cost if the house thermostat is set to 75 degrees F and the tank heaters are left at 80 degrees . This would have the two systems working against each other nearly all the time.
Perhaps one way running such equipment is likely to be an additional cost is if the typical resistance elements of the tank heaters are less effecient than the main heating unit of the home. Resistance type heaters force electric current thru wire with resistance to the flow and the wire gets hot. This is likely the least effecient way to produce heat from electricity. However, I do not know of aquarium heaters that operate in another manner myself.
If the home is heated by an energy effecient system such as a heat pump, high effeciency gas or geothermal heat pump it may well be less costly to raise the ambient temperature of the home with such a system. This should somewhat reduce the load on the less effecient tank heaters as they should run less often.
I have also found that many, if not most, fish can deal with tank temperatures somewhat lower that 80 degreees F. I have usually kept tank temps between 70 to 75 degrees during the cool months with no apparent ill effect on the fish.
Tanks in a garage or basement will be a different story and serious insulation may well be the best way to go.
The summer months is where pumps, lights and such tank equipment will be fighting with a central AC system. Of course the heaters can be turned off during the hot months. It would be an extra increase to the AC cost if the house thermostat is set to 75 degrees F and the tank heaters are left at 80 degrees . This would have the two systems working against each other nearly all the time.
$97 electricity bill,that must be nice. In summer mine avgs between $185-$200 a month, winter $125-$135. I only have 2 Beamswork LED lights running, a 100 gallon canister on my 72, a Fx5, and 2 300W heaters going. My AC is what eats at my electricity bill
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
My house temp stays between 72-75. My tank temp is around 80 with one 300W heater, no idea why anyone would need 3.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
My house temps are between 53 and 68. Warmest it ever got was 74, and that was for at most three days. Bit different than yours.
We have AC but only use it maybe 5 days a year. I do like living in the Pacific Northwest.
