saving power with tanks?

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wheatgerm

wheatgerm

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 22, 2010
1,168
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utah
Right now I believe between my 2 tanks it cost me $80+ every month to keep them flowing.. I have a 500 gallon tank with an evo "energy saving efficient water pump" 3500, 3- heaters 500watts each and a small air pump. When I bought the pump they said it would be like leaving a light bulb on all the time?
Im also running a 125 with a small submersible 1200 gph pump, a 300 watt and a 100 watt heater. For lights on both tanks im using t8 shop lights from home depot and I only turn them on when im in the fish room looking or showing off the tanks
My question is where else can I save on power or what is running up the bill the most? Using the water heater to heat my big tank isn't an option because they are in opposite ends of the basement
 
wheatgerm said:
When I bought the pump they said it would be like leaving a light bulb on all the time?
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Leaving a 143 watt light bulb on 24/7 costs money. LOL! In addition running 3 500 watt heaters, a 300 and a 100 watt heater adds up. Sometimes it is cheaper to heat the room rather than the individual tanks. But in your case, your electric bill is not that bad for what you are running.
 
I had a friend that use to cover his tank with a comforter overnight to hold in more heat. Not saying it's a great idea, but he was convince it was saving him money.
 
joe jaskot said:
In addition running 3 500 watt heaters, a 300 and a 100 watt heater adds up. Sometimes it is cheaper to heat the room rather than the individual tanks. But in your case, your electric bill is not that bad for what you are running.
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I guess your right... I didn't think about that. I was thinking the pump was the main culprit but when your talking about wattage my heaters are going add up way more than the pump :/ I guess I better figure out how to run a line from my water heater!
As for heating the room I know what your saying because right now I keep my house at 70 degrees and the fish room is always about 76 because of the tanks lol I could figure out how to flip it the other way!!!
 
Most tank heat is lost through evaporation. If you can cut down on evaporation with a cover you will greatly curtail the heat that escapes from the tank.

I'll bet that the humidity in the aquarium room is also quite a bit higher than the rest of the house? It takes energy (heat) for that water to evaporate... this is where the majority of the heat you put into the tank is going.

Sounds like a "Kill-O-Watt" device might be a good investment. It will help you identify what accessories are drawing the most power. It will also help you see the effects of any improvements you make... Plug your heaters into the Kill-o-watt and run them for a week with the tank uncovered. Put a cover on the tank and run them for another week... what is the difference?

Wattage is a measurement of energy. It can be directly converted to units of heat. Whether the heating elements in the aquarium or the heating elements in your water heater are supplying heat to the tank (assuming electric water heater) it doesn't make any difference. The water from your water heater is going to loose heat on the trip to your tank... so an electric water will be less efficient than your current aquarium heaters.

If you have a gas water heater the amount of energy used to heat the water will be roughly the same (depending on the water heaters efficiency)... but natural gas is a cheaper source of energy than electricity.
 
i saw that kill a watt device in the hardware store,has anyone tried it? might be a good investment.some older equipment can might have really dropped off efficiency wise
 
Insulation, efficient pump, led lights all help. For example I was looking at a 3000gph pump that used like 550w. I spent more to get a reeflo hammerhead gold since it moves 5555gph at 272w. Also my 10w LEDs on my 500g use less power than my 24" aqueon single tube on a 20g tank.
 
A Watt is a unit for the measurement of power. A Volt is a unit for the measurement of force. Watts = Volts x Amps.

You will notice most 120v/240v switchable devices will consume half the amount of Amps at 240V than they do on their 120v settings. This is because they consume the same amount of power (Watts). So a 240v heater running at 2 amps consumes the same amount of Watts as a 120v heater running at 4 amps.

For power consumption you are worried about Watts.
 
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