How Much Energy Does A Fish Tank Consume

[Alexp08]

So I got a letter from the power company stating that we use 4 times more electric than our neighbors. I have a 10, 20, 35, 55, 65,. altogether, 3 canister filters, 3 HOP filters, and 3 bubble makers. 
 
Could these fish tank really be using that much energy?

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

I doubt it. Check the wattage of each and every piece that is plugged in and add it up. Don't forget lighting and heaters. The lighting will need to adjusted for the amount of hours it is on per day. You will need to come up with an estimate for the heaters as to how many hours they are actually heating.
 
Take everything that is on all the time (filters and pumps) and multiply the wattage by 24. That will give you watts/day. Use your estimates for the hours/day that your heaters and lights are on and multiply them by the wattage of each fixture and multiply each by 24 and add them to the number you got for all the other equipment. You now have watts/day. Divide that by 1000 and then multiply by the number of days. That will give you the estimated kwh used by fish tanks for the month.
 
Get your bill and see what percentage of your total kwh is being used by fish tanks. If it is about 75%, then the power company is right.

 

[sbenbow]

Can you get an energy meter?  We (luckily) can borrow them from libraries / councils in the UK.  They are great for working out what your current consumption is - especially for peak usage and overnight usage - just to check how much background electricity all your appliances use (fridges, freezers, TV's on standby, fish tanks, etc...).
 
Over here they just literally attach a loop around the inbound mains power, and a moveable wifi unit (battery or mains operated) can be left in your house to see real time and/or historical usage.
 
That might help you work out when/how you use electricity - especially if the energy company say you use 4 x as much as the neighbours.