how much is your elec bill?
- Thread starter livebearerfreak
- Start date
wow, some of you have very high electric bills in my eyes. if my bill was that high i dont thank i could keep all my fish. i would have to down size. i have 7 fresh water tanks and one salt water tank all with heaters and lighting. (75 gal, three 55 gallons, 40 gallon planted, 30 gallon, 28 gallon bowfront and i have a 30 gallon fowlr; my electric bill during the winter runs between 90 to 95 dallars. During the summer my bill runs 120-130 and thats keeping the a/c at 72 degrees. My water bill runs close to 100 and thats also includes watering my lawn an hour each zone (4 zones) twice a week.
i would fall off my rocker if i had a 400 eectric bill...lol
i would fall off my rocker if i had a 400 eectric bill...lol
I am still not convinced that many of these high bills have much to do with the fish tanks.
other than the heaters, the tanks use hardly any power.
An AquaClear 110 uses 12w for example.
in my area that costs:
0.012kw 24/d x 30 days x $0.058 = $0.50 per month.
50 cents per month to run a big AC filter 24/7. a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons costs way more than it does for me to run my AC110 for a whole month lol.
yes, I realize that the heaters draw most of the power, but still.
unless you have a reef setup with very high wattage lighting, or perhaps some serious plant lights, your aquariums should not cost all that much to run.
its everything else like your fridge, air conditioner, space heater, microwave, stove etc. that draws most of your power consumption and makes up most of the bill..
other than the heaters, the tanks use hardly any power.
An AquaClear 110 uses 12w for example.
in my area that costs:
0.012kw 24/d x 30 days x $0.058 = $0.50 per month.
50 cents per month to run a big AC filter 24/7. a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons costs way more than it does for me to run my AC110 for a whole month lol.
yes, I realize that the heaters draw most of the power, but still.
unless you have a reef setup with very high wattage lighting, or perhaps some serious plant lights, your aquariums should not cost all that much to run.
its everything else like your fridge, air conditioner, space heater, microwave, stove etc. that draws most of your power consumption and makes up most of the bill..
I remodeled my home last year and put insolation in every wall and ceiling (did not do the floor). With that said, I dont have a air system in the house or a heater that I use (Its California baby Lol). My home stays between 75*-82* winter through Summer
. I did install some whirly-birds cause it was hot the summer we finished (actually dropped temp about 2-3* and everyone is happy). No one complains about it to hot or cold 
.
Since this thread, I have thought about Solar Panels again
I plan to extend my garage and add a room to rent so I will try to eliminate any type of bill possible
I think my bill is so high cause there are many things running all day (excluding anything fish related
)
. I did install some whirly-birds cause it was hot the summer we finished (actually dropped temp about 2-3* and everyone is happy). No one complains about it to hot or cold .Since this thread, I have thought about Solar Panels again
I plan to extend my garage and add a room to rent so I will try to eliminate any type of bill possible I think my bill is so high cause there are many things running all day (excluding anything fish related
)Cholly;4081513; said:
From $120-$160 in a 2 bedroom apartment. I have found that the longer I keep my aquarium lights on, the higher the bill. Lights, and heaters use the most electricity. In the summer, I turn off the heaters, and use less light(due to longer days), turn on the ac, and my bill comes out to around the same.
I am also one of those "turn the damn light off of your not using it" kind of guys, so that saves me a bit of money on my bill too
I am also one of those "turn the damn light off of your not using it" kind of guys, so that saves me a bit of money on my bill too
I stlil dont understand how you guys think the tanks lights/heaters included can cost that much!? O__o
I run heaters on all 5 running tanks... all have lighting and one of them is saltwater so I run a T5 unit and I am still paying in the $60 range a month and havent gone over... (My bill was $60 range when I didnt have tanks running.... and it still is..) I honestly cant understand how a tank can run up your bill that much.
I run heaters on all 5 running tanks... all have lighting and one of them is saltwater so I run a T5 unit and I am still paying in the $60 range a month and havent gone over... (My bill was $60 range when I didnt have tanks running.... and it still is..) I honestly cant understand how a tank can run up your bill that much.
because they have not done the math.
its easy to blame the fish tank.
but in reality, its usually everything else.
doing the calcs as shown in this thread makes it easy to see exactly how much a setup costs to run.
MFKer's that are concerned just need to grab their bill, look up how much they are paying per kilowatt hour, get the wattage of their equipment, and go to town.
when computing the numbers, keep in mind that lights are typically only on 8-12 per day and the heaters are probably only on 50% of the time during the day, if that.
basically for most setups, you can take the cost and half it to get a more realistic value.
yes, filters run 24/7 but they use no power.
even a big FX5 uses 50w of power. in my area that costs $2 per month to run.
thats it.
even in places where electricity is more, its still going to be nothing.
