Impact on electric bill?

[Wes Gray]

I am thinking about getting a 75g tank. Currently the biggest tank I've
ever had was 26g. Any vague idea what I'm looking at in terms of
electricity usage? It would just be community freshwater, no plants,
so the main cost would be the heating.

[George Pontis]

In article >,
says...
> I am thinking about getting a 75g tank. Currently the biggest tank I've
> ever had was 26g. Any vague idea what I'm looking at in terms of
> electricity usage? It would just be community freshwater, no plants,
> so the main cost would be the heating.
>

Makes a difference if the new tank is the same material (glass or acrylic) and
thickness. The 75G is perhaps more likely to be acrylic, which is a better
insulator than glass. I measured the total power consumption of a couple of glass
tanks in the 30-37G range. Both were indoors in a normally heated home with lights
on a timer and canister filters. They had an insulating material for a backdrop
behind the tanks. They averaged about 8.5 KWH per week each. At a rate of 13 cents
per KWH (check your bill for exact rates), each one cost around a dollar per week.

A 75G tank has more surface area than a 29 but not that much more. Most of the
heat would be lost out the top and four sides. My guess is that the heating costs
would be less than 2 times that for the smaller tank. The filters for the the 75G
would have to be more powerful to circulate greater volume. Maybe lighting is one
of the bigger factors, depending on what you use. As an outside number, I can tell
you what I measured on an uninsulated 80G acrylic tank in an unheated garage. The
was from N. California in Feb/Mar, so eve temps dropped into the low 50s
typically. Including minimal lighting and two medium size canister filters, this
system used 30KWH per week.

Geo.

[Dick]

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 04:31:50 GMT, Wes Gray >
wrote:

>I am thinking about getting a 75g tank. Currently the biggest tank I've
>ever had was 26g. Any vague idea what I'm looking at in terms of
>electricity usage? It would just be community freshwater, no plants,
>so the main cost would be the heating.

A lot depends on your normal room temperature and what temperature you
maintain in the tank. My 5 tanks, ranging in size of 10 to 75
gallons, are set between 76 and 78F. In the winter I heat my house
to about 74 degrees thus the heaters have to make up the difference.
The greater the difference between room temperature and tank
temperature, the more the heating cost will be.

Winter costs are less than summer, for me. I run the air conditioner
to a room temperature of 77 degrees, but I used to keep my room
temperature at 74 all year round. I am paying for electricity to
lower my house temp and paying for electricity to heat the tanks.

Air pumps and filters run 24/7, but don't draw much current. Lights
add heat to the tank (good in the winter, bad in the summer) and draw
quite a bit of electricity.

I track my electric and gas use using Excel spread sheet. Starting
the year I bought my tanks, I can see a real increase in power
consumption. I would estimate my power costs have gone up 10%.

dick

[Daniel Morrow]

"Dick" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 04:31:50 GMT, Wes Gray >
> wrote:
>
> I track my electric and gas use using Excel spread sheet. Starting
> the year I bought my tanks, I can see a real increase in power
> consumption. I would estimate my power costs have gone up 10%.
>
> dick
>
>

Coincidentally I found out that my aquarium heaters (2 55 gallon tanks -
each with 2 250 watt heaters, one 15 gallon with something like a 150 watt
or so heater, and one 250 watt heater rarely used in the hospital/quarantine
tank(10 gallon)) cost an entirely additional $30.00 per month extra in the
cold months here. I found that out by comparing the last cold month (one or
two months ago) bill to the latest hot month bill (june/july) and there is a
big difference. One way or another heaters cost as we keep our thermostat
low at all times but the water must be heated so it costs $30.00 a month for
me to operate all of those aquarium heaters in the cold months (kept at
about 80 degrees fahrenheit at all times), whereas if we kept the indoor
heat between 62 and 72 degrees fahrenheit I am confident the aquarium
heaters would not have to work nearly as much and so would technically but
not practically cost less. Good luck and later!