Power bills

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Liam

Liam

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 30, 2007
1,173
2
38
Brisbane - Australia.
Our power bills are through the roof, aaaand, I want to get another tank - those two don't mix. so, what could I do to make my other tank more power efficient, I.E power friendly filter, light, heater etc or something like that. So hopefully I can lower tank A's power usage, so I can get Tank B which would have the same power usage, sooo tank A and B can use the same power usage as A's former power consumption. lol On that note is there anyway I can see a individual piece of equipments power consumption?
 
The formula that you will probably need is
P=IV
or
Power(Watts) = Current(Amps) x Volts

On each piece of equipment, you will find a tag or imprint with the specs. You will need to convert all to either Watts or Amps (depending on how your power company charges for electricity).

When everything is converted to the same units, then you can make comparisons as to what is efficient and what is not. I have found that not all equipment is created equal in terms of power consumption. For instance, comparing pumps for a friends wet/dry, I found that two seemingly equal pumps differed in their power consumption by more than double.

Types of lighting can also save lots of electricity. Hot burning lights such as incandescent and metal halides are huge energy hogs. Florescent lights consume a third or less than incandescent. LED's consume about a tenth of florescent bulbs. Additionally, instead of running lights all the time, it will be beneficial to put your lights on a timer. Have the lights turn on only when everyone is normally home (you can still turn them on manually with the timer).

Another thing that I found out is that air pumps are much more efficient than water pumps. I have four smaller tanks running off of one air pump by using sponge filters. I also have an air pump on a 75g saltwater tank that powers the under gravel filters, and two sponge filters. You can drive a surprising amount of filtration from air pumps.
 
CHOMPERS;1995852; said:
The formula that you will probably need is
P=IV
or
Power(Watts) = Current(Amps) x Volts

On each piece of equipment, you will find a tag or imprint with the specs. You will need to convert all to either Watts or Amps (depending on how your power company charges for electricity).

When everything is converted to the same units, then you can make comparisons as to what is efficient and what is not. I have found that not all equipment is created equal in terms of power consumption. For instance, comparing pumps for a friends wet/dry, I found that two seemingly equal pumps differed in their power consumption by more than double.

Types of lighting can also save lots of electricity. Hot burning lights such as incandescent and metal halides are huge energy hogs. Florescent lights consume a third or less than incandescent. LED's consume about a tenth of florescent bulbs. Additionally, instead of running lights all the time, it will be beneficial to put your lights on a timer. Have the lights turn on only when everyone is normally home (you can still turn them on manually with the timer).

Another thing that I found out is that air pumps are much more efficient than water pumps. I have four smaller tanks running off of one air pump by using sponge filters. I also have an air pump on a 75g saltwater tank that powers the under gravel filters, and two sponge filters. You can drive a surprising amount of filtration from air pumps.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, really good advise. right now, I might go find these tags ( :D ) and take this into consideration. Hell, may even swap my light for some leds (well, possibly with further research as to, life time etc.) as they are 10 times cheaper. depending on the power usage of my cannister filter, I may even swap to a air pump, considering the tank I have (75) is only holding a RD, just means more water changes :D

So I'll go compare, come back with my results, then see what the results for a air pump, leds.

and if it all works out, hopefully I can persuade mum to letting me get another 75 for discus or something (might be a bit of trouble with led's as lights with the plants)
 
Run a sponge filter or two....
 
Ok, results are

Light uses 40 watts 220/240V 50Hz = 9600 amps?
Filter uses 22 watts 220/240V 50Hz = 5280 amps?

and I did the average of 5 different air pumps and the result is
3 watts 240 volts so 720 amps.

too lazy to do the LEDs

so, just found out we're charged in kilowatts, so my fishtank is consuming 62 watts an hour, so it'd take me 16 hours and 15 mins roughly to consume a kilowatt
 
Liam;1995985; said:
Ok, results are

Light uses 40 watts 220/240V 50Hz = 9600 amps?
Filter uses 22 watts 220/240V 50Hz = 5280 amps?

and I did the average of 5 different air pumps and the result is
3 watts 240 volts so 720 amps.

too lazy to do the LEDs

so, just found out we're charged in kilowatts, so my fishtank is consuming 62 watts an hour, so it'd take me 16 hours and 15 mins roughly to consume a kilowatt
Click to expand...

Actually to get the amps, you divide the watts by the volts. Just a little algebra on that original equation:

Watts = amps x volts

Watts/volts = amps

Since your power company charges by the kilowatt (1000 watts), it is more convenient to consider the power in terms of watts. For your lights, multiply the watts by the number of hours that you run them per day. If you run them six hours, then your daily consumption would be 40 x 6 = 100 watts for the lights. The pump/filter's daily consumption is 22 x 24 =524 watts. Then your total would be 625 watts. (Do you use heaters?) Monthly your total would be 625 x 30 = 18750 watts or 18.8 kW.
 
I am running 12 tanks, that includes lights, filters, heaters, pumps, etc. My power bill did not increase drastically. IMO you need to find other sources to cut down on. AC, electric heat, all the lights in the house on.....just my opinion.
 
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