How much does it typically cost to run a fish tank a month??

[Jeffd1979]

I was looking over my power bill and they showed a comparison to last years power usage in Nov compared to this years.... it is almost double.. right now i have 2 tanks, a 55 gallon fresh and a 37 gallon salt..

THe 55 gallon has
1 emperor 400
1 skilter 250
1 400 watt heater


the 37 gallon has
1 emperor 280
1 Skilter 250 /w skimmer
1 400 watt heater..

I keep the house about 70 degrees and the tanks about about 74 so i would not think the heaters would be doing to much work.. Am i really using that much power to run these tanks?

edit... no i did not have these tanks this time last year

 

[OrionGirl]

Nope, shouldn't be that much. I added 2 120's and took down 2 65's, and there's barely evena blip in my power use. You can figure out how much they are using--there are a couple of canned programs: http://www.algone.com/energy_consumption.htm also has some guides to use. I figure I pay about $15/tank, no matter what size.

 

[jenbet]

I have a 30 gallon, a 29 gallon, a 20 gallon, a 55 gallon, and 3 tens...and honestly i didn't notice any drastic change in my electric bill. My opinion, gotta be something else going on

 

[Indigo]

I worked out, in a previous thread, how much it costs me to run my tank (25g) in BC. It comes to at MOST $1.50/month. Power is pretty darn cheap so thats a help. On the other hand, my boyfriend lives in Alberta, and his power pill is double mine, and he's rarely even there.

Did you have a rate increase in the last year? If its a significant increase, look at other appliances in the house. Are they loosing efficiency? Are there drafts? For most people, the electricity running into their tanks isn't much of a drain.... unless you have a fish room with at least a dozen tanks, like some people....

 

[Jeffd1979]

Nope, shouldn't be that much. I added 2 120's and took down 2 65's, and there's barely evena blip in my power use. You can figure out how much they are using--there are a couple of canned programs: http://www.algone.com/energy_consumption.htm also has some guides to use. I figure I pay about $15/tank, no matter what size.

THanks for the link.. I went and got all the wattage off everything.. I assumed the heaters would be used 4 hrs a day each and had all the filters and pumps running 24hrs and assumed the lights running 12 hrs a day... My avg cost per KWH is $0.0725. So all that taken into consideration it comes to about 8 bucks a month to run both tanks..

It had totally slipped my mind that we had added a fridge in the garage.. i am sure that is alot of the addition.. My electric bill for my house was only 50 bucks a month a year ago.. now it is at about 100.. so it is still not to bad..