What is your monthly electricity bill ?

[mgsim]

Hi all,

Would like to get some feedback on what are your monthly average utility bill since starting an aquarium ? What did you or can you do to reduce electricity consumption ?

Although I was prepared for an increase in utility rates since I started my 6 feet tank, I was nonetheless in for a shock when my latest bill came in at a whopping 881 kWh of electicity usage - twice the national average.

My tank has 8 tubes of 3 feet 39W T5s, 4 fans, 1 1260 eheim pump, 1 small pump for the UV light and that's about all the electricity used.

Using the Aquarium calculator my usage should have been in the 200+ kWh range...

Wonder what went wrong...

[BFG]

Something somewhere in your house is leaking electricity..... How much did it cost you last month and how much is the latest bill?

[Goondoo]

Hi all,

Would like to get some feedback on what are your monthly average utility bill since starting an aquarium ? What did you or can you do to reduce electricity consumption ?

Although I was prepared for an increase in utility rates since I started my 6 feet tank, I was nonetheless in for a shock when my latest bill came in at a whopping 881 kWh of electicity usage - twice the national average.

My tank has 8 tubes of 3 feet 39W T5s, 4 fans, 1 1260 eheim pump, 1 small pump for the UV light and that's about all the electricity used.

Using the Aquarium calculator my usage should have been in the 200+ kWh range...

Wonder what went wrong...

Identify all appliances that will affect temperature in your house. Most if not all appliances that may alter temperature consume extreme power. I remember I did a test on bath heater and it consume about 2-3kW/h constantly when water is running.

[tawauboy]

what was your electricity consumption before you started your 6ft?
did you use your air-conditioner frequently in the recent weeks?
any new electrical appliances?

[mgsim]

what was your electricity consumption before you started your 6ft?
did you use your air-conditioner frequently in the recent weeks?
any new electrical appliances?

1) Electricity consumption averaged 441 kwH before latest bill.
2) Well, I did use the air-conditioning more frequently though not daily in April.
3) Have started taking daily readings to see if I can identify the main contributors.
4) There is also an increased tariff recently.

I just cannot believe the usage is double the national average.

How much kwH does a typical aquarium hobbyist log per month ? Any way to conduct a poll for it ? Would be interesting to know..

[mgsim]

Identify all appliances that will affect temperature in your house. Most if not all appliances that may alter temperature consume extreme power. I remember I did a test on bath heater and it consume about 2-3kW/h constantly when water is running.

Thanks for the tip, Billy. Now it strikes me that we did use the oven quite a few times last month... Hmmm. Will take this into account now that I have started daily readings..Cheers !

[tawauboy]

frankly, there is no typical consumption. each has their own setup.

i think you should monitor for another month or two. currently, your consumption for lights is ~96.72kwh, 1620 is ~48.36kwh, uv light (11w?)and pump (5w?) is 11.9kwh. total consumption ~157kwh.

taking your 6 footer out, your increase in electricity consumption is ~283kwh.

[seanang168]

Ever since I started on my planted tank, using 4 x 39W T5 lighting, my electricity increased by almost 50 dollars! Expensive hobby...

Ever since I started on my planted tank, using 4 x 39W T5 lighting, my electricity increased by almost 50 dollars! Expensive hobby...

And yes I got a shock too. This is my latest PUB bill. It jumped by an additional 210 kWh!!

And yes I got a shock too. This is my latest PUB bill. It jumped by an additional 210 kWh!!

And yes, my usage was doubled too in this latest pub bill.

[tawauboy]

your $50 increase in electricity bill is not due to your aquarium alone.
even if you run your lights 24/7, your bill for the lights will be ~$29 only.

[Shrimpong]

You didn't mention how often you turn on the lights.

[mgsim]

Lights turned on for 11 hours daily but has been reduced to 9 hours to help address the issue with the onset of algae and also to be in line with the requirement of a low tech tank.

Have been monitoring daily usage and so far averaging about $5 a day without use of air conditioning and oven. It is becoming clear that Billy is right that temperature changing appliances are the greatest contributors to electricity consumption.

[BFG]

8hr a day is adequate for even a high tech setup. Lower your lighting schedule. You could stagger your lighting schedule to have the dusk/dawn effect by switching them on at half hour interval. To have a passing cloud effect, switch off 2 sets of your longest running tube for half an hour or less at the mid way mark of your 8hr light schedule. You will need 4 timers for this.


Hope this helps!

[aquarius]

Very interesting topic..... There're more and more hobbyists using more and more powerful lights for their planted tanks. Not only that with more people keeping CRS - aircon for ourself not enough now aircon for our shrimps or planted tanks, the utility bill will definately spike up by alot.

To cut down on electricity bills i now bath without the heater, partly due to the extremely hot weather though my family members still bath with the heater on due to habit. My planted tank has gone low tech non CO2 which means less light requirement and only water top-ups which saves water as well. Water changes from my other two tanks are used to water the plants outside. No aircon for me and my fishes, only fan.... electrical components that are not in use are unplugged. All these little things i do may not be much but a little here, a little there makes a difference over the long run.

I hope fellow forumers will take the effort to try and conserve/reduce our electricity as well as water consumption.

[Jimmy]

how come my national average is shown 679? different from yours.

[mgsim]

8hr a day is adequate for even a high tech setup. Lower your lighting schedule. You could stagger your lighting schedule to have the dusk/dawn effect by switching them on at half hour interval. To have a passing cloud effect, switch off 2 sets of your longest running tube for half an hour or less at the mid way mark of your 8hr light schedule. You will need 4 timers for this.


Hope this helps!

Wow this is really sophisticated lighting arrangement. Are you using this setup on your tank currently ?

[mgsim]

how come my national average is shown 679? different from yours.

Jimmy, what kind of residence do you live in ? I suspect different HDB type (3 room, 4 room, 5 room), condos and landed housings should have different monthly averages.

[Jimmy]

Jimmy, what kind of residence do you live in ? I suspect different HDB type (3 room, 4 room, 5 room), condos and landed housings should have different monthly averages.

okay, i think so too. my usage was like over 900 for last month! have to cut down on air con usage.

[mgsim]

Very interesting topic..... There're more and more hobbyists using more and more powerful lights for their planted tanks. Not only that with more people keeping CRS - aircon for ourself not enough now aircon for our shrimps or planted tanks, the utility bill will definately spike up by alot.

To cut down on electricity bills i now bath without the heater, partly due to the extremely hot weather though my family members still bath with the heater on due to habit. My planted tank has gone low tech non CO2 which means less light requirement and only water top-ups which saves water as well. Water changes from my other two tanks are used to water the plants outside. No aircon for me and my fishes, only fan.... electrical components that are not in use are unplugged. All these little things i do may not be much but a little here, a little there makes a difference over the long run.

I hope fellow forumers will take the effort to try and conserve/reduce our electricity as well as water consumption.

I couldn't agree more that we all need to conserve/reduce our utility consumption. Electricity rates at SGD0.25 per kwH is almost twice the rate just a couple years back. I always wonder why the government chooses to peg electricity to petrol prices when it is mostly generated from natural gases.

There are just so much we can do to reduce usage in the face of ever increasing rates.

So isn't it a dilemma that we keep aquariums to keep us relax but yet we are stressed over utility bills.

[BFG]

Wow this is really sophisticated lighting arrangement. Are you using this setup on your tank currently ?

Yes, for my marine tank. I have 8 x 54w ATI T5 tube, 4 of them consist of actinic tube while the other 4 are white tube. I am using 4 electronic timers by Soundtech.

1st timer, actinic tube switch on at 1600hr,
2nd timer, actinic tube switch on at 1630hr,
3rd timer, white tube switch on at 1700hr,
4th timer, white tube switch on at 1730hr.

Passing cloud effect.
1st timer, actinic tube switch off at 1900hr and turn on at 2000hr,
2nd timer, actinic tube switch off at 1900hr and turn on at 2000hr.

Lights out timing, end of cycle.
3rd timer, white tube switch off at 0100hr,
4th timer, white tube switch off at 0130hr,
1st timer, actinic tube switch off at 0145hr,
2nd timer, actinic tube switch off at 0200hr.

Every year I replace all 8 of my ATI T5 light tube.