Take A Guess

[fry_lover]

doing this Practical Fish Keeping guide for working out the cost of electricity for your tank

how long you reckon a 200W heater is on for in a 125 litre tank?

i am guessing - colder parts of the year, on for about 33% of the time (8 hours a day) hopefully this is an OVER ESTIMATE

warmer parts of the year, on for about 10% of the time (2.5 hours per day)

i just want a ball-park figure without sitting there for an hour with a stop watch


and do people fancy guessing an overall % for an ENTIRE YEAR? mine would be about 15-20%

 

[moeldner]

Depends on a lot of factors as I'm sure you are aware

- ambient temperature of the room the tank is in.
- temperature the heater is at
- Light levels - higher light levels can contribute to the heating of the tank (although it is failry minimal).
- tank hood and how well it helps keep heat in.

I have a 300W heater in a 215L tank, don't run heating in the house during the day winter (< 10 degrees celcius outside) when not at home, and I suspect my heater will be on at least 12 hours a day (gets down to -10 degrees C overnight here in winter, not quite so bad inside the house)

In summer, we get temperatures of 40+, and only down to 20-23 at night, so the heater may not come on at all for a couple of months.


Saying all that, a ballpark figure of around 15-20% seems OK, just wanted to highlight some of the variables..

 

[fry_lover]

yes mate good points, there are many variables

perhaps let me narrow it down to my specific example

Live in London, UK,

One-Bed ground floor flat, doesnt keep heat especially well my flat

Tank lighting and lid is the normal run of the mill stuff

my flat is definitly not a "warm" flat, as outside of the summer if i had an unheated tank it would probaly fall to about 68-70 F. i know some peeps in London whos coldwater tanks never get below 73-74F as they have their heating on more often than i do

so what i am after especially is how long peeps think my heater would be on for per day in the colder weather (trying to stay away from extremes here or never get an answer!!!), so lets assume on an average December, nothing too extreme, perhaps heater will be on for 8-10 hours per day??? or MORE

Does anyone think in England a heater (correct size in a regular tank) would be on for more than 10 hours per day (assuming it wasnt feezing conditions outside)

and in freexing conditions, say 0 C and below all day, how long do you think a heater might be on for during the day (18 hours )

i am curious as with us in October i am trying to anticipate my eleccy bills!!!!!

SORRY - i know its like asking how long is a peice of string, but i really want some estimates, i wont hold you to it...... promise