Cost Of Running An Aquarium!

[flix_cw]

3 tubs in the sun in the garden seeded with one mixed packet supplies me with all the live food I could ever need.

What live food do you grow?

 

[saltynay]

Blood worm, Black worm, Daphnia, Fairy shrimp and I put anacharis in there which acts as filtration and promotes other small jumpy invertebrates to grow. Because the input is low the yield is low but it doesn't really bother me as its more then enough to keep my fish well fed. Each tub is a standard bucket filled with water and put in the sunniest spot of the garden.

The daphnia and black worm (mosquito larvae) are the only populations that seems to thrive and I produced enough to trade some bags in at my LFS every now and then.

 

[weezawoo]

With regards to costs, would running 2 heaters be less or more cost? I was thinking, it would be less work for one and heat the tank quicker? But then you have 2 running! And do externals use more or less than internals?

 

[Si_B]

With regards to costs, would running 2 heaters be less or more cost? I was thinking, it would be less work for one and heat the tank quicker? But then you have 2 running! And do externals use more or less than internals?

It should theoretically take exactly the same power to heat the tank, however many heaters you use

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Heating is probably the most expensive electrical item for our fish by far. I'm dreading seeing the next quarter's bill after those "arctic" conditions we had in December, as my 5-footer is in an insulated garage, with two heaters trying (and usually suceeding) to maintain 22C (condensation trays; polystyrene; towels; "koi filter wool"; old blanket all trying to keep the tank from losing too much heat)...

But it could be worse, as poor "simonas" has a garage tank with Discus in it and he had an absolute nightmare trying to maintain ~28C up in Wirral (where I know first hand that winters are much more bitter than Southampton), even with 1200W of heating!

 

[James9114]

I have a 110 litre aquarium and my mums tells me its put roughtly £8 extra a month onto eletric bill.

 

[kevinjames]

I have a 110 litre aquarium and my mums tells me its put roughtly £8 extra a month onto eletric bill.

i dont think it will be that much on tank that small. i think as long as your house is kept warm anyway the cost wont be so high. i hope not as high as i have a 500 litre and a 200 litre.

 

[SensesFail]

I have a 110 litre aquarium and my mums tells me its put roughtly £8 extra a month onto eletric bill.

i dont think it will be that much on tank that small. i think as long as your house is kept warm anyway the cost wont be so high. i hope not as high as i have a 500 litre and a 200 litre.

Can't be as much as it I'd give her 4 and tell her she's extremely lucky at that!

 

[Squidward]

I can't understand why fish food is so expensive.

£20 for 100g of Tetra Flake at lfs I recently visited

But even at my local lfs the equivalent is in the region of £15.

 

[sXeLifer]

I worked it out to be like £4 a month thats with 2 filters a light and a heater.

 

[SensesFail]

Ok guys I have had my electricity bill in today which details my tariff which is below. I'm not too sure when the electricity switches over to the discounted energy tariff so I'm basing everything on the standard energy tariff which is more expensive but for some of the time discounted energy will be used so the results won't be 100% accurate but should cost no more. I have added the cost of running the heater at the end simply because factors come into play such as room temperature which willl cause heat loss from the tank to increase or decrease resulting in added or decreased heating loads. It would be extremely complicated to calculate an exact cost as the environment the tank is in plays a major factor both in heat loss or heat gains so who knows how hard the heater is working! Or how many hours a day it's actually working and to what capacity!

Filter rated at 32w running for 24hrs per day, based on a 31day month at the standard energy cost of 0.3675:

Filter Wattage - 32w - convert this to kw by dividing by 1000 = 0.032kw and if used for 1 hr would make it kw hr. Multiply this by the number of hours the unit is in operation, which in my case is 12hrs = 0.384kw per number of hrs. then times this by the number of days in the month which I will go off 31 = 11.904kw per month. Then finally multiply by the tariff which in my case is standard energy which is
11.904*0.1675= £1.99 a month to run

Air pump - rated at3.5w running for 12 hrs per day, based on a 31 day month at the standard energy cost of 0.3675:

3.5 / 1000 = 0.0035kw per hour
0.0035*12hrs per day = 0.042kw per day
0.042*31 days of month = 1.302kw per month
1.302kw * 0.1675(tariff) = £0.22p per month

Lighting - rated at 78w for 2 T5 tubes running 6.5hrs per day, based on a 31 day month at the standard energy cost of 0.3675

78/100 = 0.078kw per hour
0.078*6.5= 0.507kw per day
0.507*31= 15.717kw per month
15.717*0.1675(tariff) = £2.63p per month

My energy cost per kw unit - standard energy = 0.1675p
Discounted energy = 0.1085p

Overall rough total for running the lighting, filter and lighting = £4.84 per month


If the heater was on for 24 hours solidly at 300w full capacity: (which won't be the case as when the tank is at its temperature it's only maintaining the temp which won't use much at all so the below calculation in effect is rubbish, and a severe worse case scenario! thought I may aswell do it! In all honesty I bet it will cost £2-3 per month as a ball park figure? Which would bring the overall tank electrical running cost to around £7.84 but that's going off standard energy which won't be the case all of the time. I'd suspect discounted energy would come in off peak so 12hrs could be at that discounted price which would make things cheaper again

300/1000 = 0.3kw per hr
0.3*24 = 7.2kw per day
7.2*31= 223.2 per month
223.2*0.1675 = £37.40p per month to run if on solidly to full capacity

All in all I just thought I'd show these results but really we are no further forward in working out an exact price but I'd estimate the price given to be lower taking into account the discounted tariff price so really the £7.84 per month could infact off the top of my head, drop to around £5.00 give or take, once spread over the 2 tariffs and of course days of the month do change some times.

I'm just rambling now! Thought I'd share this with you anyway hope iv done it correctly! Shall we just say it's not expensive and all in! including water, heating, filtration why not throw in 2 filters, and air pumps will bring the cost of running to no more than £10quid a month based on realistic times for lighting and bubbles

 

[weezawoo]

That really interesting and soooo helpful thank you
Now I can tell my BF's nan I'm using alllll the electric!! Thanks for showing me how to work it out too!