How power-hungry is you tank?

Hey guys


Have you ever stopped and calculated how much power your system chows every day?

Here's my layout: (Starting at the smallest)

3W - Air Pump
18W- UV Sterilizer
70W - Return Pump
100W - 25W Lights x 4
300W - Heater

491 W TOTAL

Now I know what happened on my elec bill... How about you?

 

Luckly the heater and the light does not operate 24/7. This is interesting i shall add tonight.

 

@SHiBBY

Take your water and lights bill. Take the Rand value of your electricity and divide it by the number of units. Now you have a per Kw price per unit.
Take your total Wattage, divide by 1000, and times this by the per KW price. I pay 0.65c per Kw... so using your figures:

(491 / 1000) x 0.65 = 0.31c per hour
0.31 x 24 (hours a day) x 31 (days a month) = R237.45 per month. (This is assuming everything is running 24/7 and that your unit cost is 0.65c.

You will all be shocked when you actually calculate your tank's consumption. (Assume heater as being on 30-40% of the time in summer, and 75-85% of the time in winter). Lights you will know. Airpump and filters are obviously 24/7

 

Yup, that's right... An I think that's one thing that people often don't calculate prior to getting into the hobby. When you have a 1500 liter marine aquarium, the cost per month is FAR more than the salt and food... Electricity is possibly the highest monthly expense in a regular month!

 

Since selling up, im saving over R1k per month.

My marine tank was over 1kw and my Malawi tank was close to 750w

 

My 360l is 720w with out the filter, not sure of the wattage of a viva aqua 750?

My 150l is about 350w.

 

My 15l nano tank electricity consumption on a 31 day month

My electricity is 0.65c per unit.

Filter @ 5w on 24/7 = R2.42 per month
Heater @ 25W on approx 8hrs per day = R4.03 per month
Light @ 12W on 8 hours per day = R1.93 per month

Total cost to run tank per month is R8.38 per month.

 

My 300l community tank consumption on a 31 day month

My electricity is 0.65c per unit

Filter @ 58w on 24/7 = R28.05 per month
Heater @ 250w on approx 8hrs per day = R40.30 per month
Air pump @ 3.5W on 24/7 = R1.69 per month
Lights @ 90w on 8hrs per day = R14.51 per month

Total cost to run tank per month is R84.55.

 

Can someone help me with calculations?

My one tank is a Boyu EA-100.
2 X 25W lights approx 12 hrs.
1 X 300w heater(how long is it supposed to be on?).
1 X boyu built in filter which I cannot find any specs or wattage for.
pretty sure that the air pump is in the filter

I also have two of these and below them are their stats:
Boyu MT-402:

Mini Aquarium
TECHNICAL DATA：
TANK SPEC
SIZE：
350Lx400Wx390H(mm)
L: 32L
POWER SAVING LIGHT
VOLT：AC230/115V
FREQ：50/60Hz
POWER：PL-18W
SUBMERSIBLE PUMP
VOLT：AC230/115V
FREQ：50/60Hz
POWER：6W
QMAX: 340L/h
HMAX: 0.6m

Thanks for your help,
SAMollyBreeder