Cost of running?

[teacherspet]

Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone had any information (or an idea where I can get information) on how much electricity it takes to run a tank. My roomate is claiming that the fish tanks are costing to much money and she should pay less of the bill. The actual bill has not gone up, she just wants to pay less of it so I wanted to see if there was any info out there.. I have a 5, 10, and 20 gallon tank. Thanks for any help...

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I would not think it was very much and to be honest if your bill has not gone up since starting tanks, then she is at it.

If in doubt, get in touch with your supplier and check to see if the amount being used changed around the time of you setting up your tanks.

 

[canarsie11]

Kick her cheap a$$ out!

She is mad cause she has no tanks

 

[clutterydrawer]

just work out how many units it uses...then work out the cost of that many units...then seee if it really does make a difference or if shes jsut trying to trick you.

 

[hellohefalump]

I have a similar problem with my housemates... they're always getting at me about the electricity... but actually running tanks doesn't take that much elec and it's relatively cheap... they WANT to believe otherwise though... assholes...

 

[BigSteve]

♂ In a normal tropical tank the main electrical draw (in watts) is from
the heater. A filter, air pump, and/or the lamp in the hood don't consume
enough power to worry about. And even the heater, unless it's in a cold room
and really on alot, won't add up to that much money on electricity. The electricity
consumed by your relatively small tanks is not a big deal.

 

[canarsie11]

Lets be fair.

It has to have some effect the bill somewhat doesn't it . I often wondered about it myself, filters and pumps run 24 hrs a day non stop.

Lights 8 to 12 hrs a day.

Only thing I see not using major electric is heater, especially on larger tanks.

My GF and I spoke about it, but I pay electric so I just dont care. However, lets not act like that is not a legit concern.

Also, you are running 3 tanks. So calculate wattage give roomate exact number

 

[teacherspet]

Thanks so much for the help. Anyone know someone in San Diego that needs a roomate?

 

[canarsie11]

Thanks so much for the help. Anyone know someone in San Diego that needs a roomate?

 

[smithrc]

San Diago... Hmmm I'm There!

Stayed for a month a few years ago - Fantastic place

Anyway... I've worked it out before when we went from the 15gal to the 50gal. it wasnt much.

Anyway... I have a quick question... with floresent tubes... the wattage they are is at the voltage they run at yes? and the ballast converts the voltage to something really high - so is the power rating of the bulb what we should be using? i'm not sure it is...

 

[Jimmy927]

say to her "ill make you pay a extra £20 you cheap c*w if you do not stop whining!




james

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You can work out the cost by checking your bill for the price of one killowatt hour. Then you get the amount of hours you run the fish equipment and the number of watts needed per hour, multiply and add. then multiply by thirty and divide by the killowatts to see how much it is.

Been a while since my teacher suggested this for physics and a little less long (but still long) since I read the post taht explained how to do the calculations far better than I just did.

 

[yhbae]

The difficult one to figure out is the heater. Unless if you sit in front of the tank all day long and monitor the heater light, it is difficult to figure out just how long it stays on for a given surrounding temperature.

There must be some physics formula you can use to figure this one out given the volumn of water, surface area of water, tempertature of the air and temp of water you want to keep at.... Anyone?

 

[Bignose]

yhbae, You could calculate it from first principles... calculate the heat loss from the surface area (and thereby how much the heater turns on) the work done by the filters and their mechanical effiecency... My guess, as an engineer, by the time you made all the assumptions necessary to actually get a number, the % errors on that number would probably make is all but worthless. You know, like the polls that put Bush 2% up on Kerry, but the margin of error is 4%... that apparant lead is meaningless.

However, you could get something like this. Though, if you are complaining about the bill, you probably want to borrow than buy this

 

[yhbae]

yhbae, You could calculate it from first principles... calculate the heat loss from the surface area (and thereby how much the heater turns on) the work done by the filters and their mechanical effiecency....


Or, you could get something like this. Though, if you are complaining about the bill, you probably want to borrow than buy this

Man, its been a while since I learned anything close to physics - I doubt I am capable of doing any calculations now...

I'll check out the link...