I agree with Ryan. $65 a month is excessive.

On heaters, visit Donald's heater calculator for a better understanding
of what you use.
http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi

Otherwise, we can apply some rough estimates.

You have a 55, a 10 and a 3g tank.

On the 55g: I get 1.974 to 3.552 kw/day, based on:
i) filter @ 15-25w 24 hrs/day = .360 to .600 kw/day
ii) lights 40W @ 8-12 hours/day = .360 to .480 kw/day (light)
+ ballast efficiency (wild guess 15%) = .054 to .072
iii) heater 200W @ hmmm.... 50% off (lights, pump, ambient), and 50% on
the remaining time, so 24hours x 25% x 200W= 1.2 kw/day, to
100% on 50% of the time = 2.4kw/day

On the 10g: I get 0.784 to 1.056 kw/day, based on:
i) filter 10w 24 hrs/day = .24 kw/day
ii) lights 8W @ 8-12 hours/day = .064 to .096 kw/day
(assuming CF or incandescent so no efficiency factor needed)
iii) heater 50W @ 40 to 60% on= .48 to .72 kw/day

On the 3g: I get 0.528 to 0.792 kw/day, based on:
i) filter 5w 24 hrs/day = .12 kw/day
ii) lights 6W @ 8-12 hours/day = .048 to .072 kw/day
(assuming CF or incandescent so no efficiency factor needed)
iii) heater 50W @ 30 to 50% on= .36 to .6 kw/day

So, your daily consumption could range somewhere between 3.3 to 5.4
kw/day (or 0.1375 to 0.225 kwh). Here in Ontario, Canada we pay about 5
cents per kwh, so using that, your operating costs could be between .6875
and 1.125 cents an hour. Using 720 hours in a 30 day month, your
electricity bill (consumption only) for the aquariums could be between
$4.95 to $8.10 (if I haven't completely buggered up the math ;~),
however, 5 to 10 bucks a month sounds about right for 3 tanks.

NetMax


"Ryan Minaker" wrote in message
...
That sounds a little bit expensive to me!
I would assume that it might cost you $10/month at the absolute most
even if the heaters ran constantly.


R.
http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html


On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 15:53:56 GMT, "FishNut" wrote:

Yikes. I it's costing me about 65.00 a month to run my aquariums. I
have a
55 gallon tank, a 10 gallon turtle tank and a small 3 gallon acrylic
tank.
Does anyone else have this problem? Apparently the tank heaters are
very
costly to run. And I have 3.