Never Been Asked This Question

[StraightAddicted]

Question: How much does it cost monthly electric bill to run a 55g tank. With an emperor 400, one heater, no special lighting (what comes in 55g light fixture. There will be no sump. Just looking to see how much its gonna cost me to set this up monthly wise. Thanks everyone for comments

[2wheelsx2]

Question: How much does it cost monthly electric bill to run a 55g tank. With an emperor 400, one heater, no special lighting (what comes in 55g light fixture. There will be no sump. Just looking to see how much its gonna cost me to set this up monthly wise. Thanks everyone for comments

That depends on how much your electricity costs and what equipment you use. An emperor 400 uses 25w and runs 24 hours a day. A 4 ft T8 runs 40w and the heater is whatever wattage you use. The variables are how long your light is on and how warm you want your tank relative to the room temp, as neither of those are on 24/7.

[Bas Pels]

As I have no idea what an amperor is and so on, I think I'l provide you with an example

You state it is a 55 gallon tank. In case of US gallons, that is a bit over 200 liters.

A 120 * 40 * 40 cm tank (4 feet * 1 1/3 feet * 1 1/3 feet) tank contains 192 l of water.

This tank requires a bit over 10 watts per degree C temp difference constantly (6 watts per square meter; 1 2/3 and a bit square meters)

Assuming the room to be 20 C (66 F I think) and the tank 24 C (~74 F) the heater will take 40 watts

Assuming 1 TL tube of 36 watts, the apparatus takes another 10 %, this will take 40 watts too. But only for, say, 12 hours a day

Than there is the water movement. This will require an external filte,r pumping the water around 3 timas an hour, requiring say 12 watts

Therefore, your tank requires (constanly) 40 watts (heater) + 20 watt light (working half the time) + 12 watts for the pump = 72 watts

I pay around 22 cents a kilowatt, and that means each watt constantly costs 2 euros a year

Your tank would therefore cost arond 144 euro a year, or 12 euro a month

But yopur electricity will certainly be prized differently, and so on.

But substituting the real figures you might get quite close to the real costs

on a sidenote, I did not go into waterchanges. Water costs money, it enters your house @ a certain temperature and you will need to heat this water. Many systems excist, all with different expenses. Therefore I will let that part be answered by someone else

[Suckermouth]

My power bill is about $60 a month total. I've got for four 40 gallon tanks and two 10 gallon tanks (and everything else I do like my refrigerator, room lights, computer stuff, etc.). The 40 gallon tanks don't have lights, but they have filters, heaters, and powerheads, while the 10 gallon tanks have that plus they both get 8 hours of light a day. A 55 gallon should be a small fraction of that cost. Furthermore, I let my apartment get pretty warm in the summertime but I literally don't need heaters on some of my tanks during the summer.

[plecomanpat]

I have a180 gal, a 125 gal, a 75 gal, and a 40 gal breeder....these all have lights, filters (fluval canisters, fx5's on the 2 larger and 401's on the 2 smaller) and heaters...then there is my rack system...6 30 gal longs (36x16x12) 6 20 gal longs (30x12x12) 1-55gal, and 2 10 gals. all these are sponge or u/g filter driven by 1 linear pump, all have heaters and a few have power heads for current...the lighting is not completed yet. My electric bill is around 170 per month...b4 I got back into fish keeping (around '02) my bill was 45 to 50 but take into consideration cost of living increases etc. It all boils down to this is an expense I have never thought twice about

[Firestorming]

When I was running the fishroom with 50+ tanks on 3 banks our bill was around $2500-$3500 a quarter season dependent (yes that's a sarcastic thumbs up)

[andy77aus]

I reckon I'm getting ripped off here in Melbourne Aus. I have a 300 litre tank with external canister filer and lights and UV sterlizer and I'm paying $300 per quarter. $450 in winter.

[Shane]

I think costs are going to vary a lot between Europe, Oz, and the States based mainly on the relative price of electricity but also average exterior temperature, average room temperature, and cost of water. For example, Bas notes a room temperature of 20C or 68F which (per Google) is normal in northern Europe where people are adapted to the cold. My family would be freezing at 20C. US room temperature is between 73F and 79F (23C-26C), and we stay at the upper end of that scale or slightly higher in our house.

The other point I wanted to make was that, no matter where you live, the aquarium's lighting will consume more electricity than any other component. An Emperor 400 filter uses 19.2 watts of power. Recommended heater for a 55 Gallon tank is 200 watts, but it does not run all the time and probably does not come on at all for parts of the year. However, even a very low light system at 1 watt per gallon will consume 55 watts while the lights are on. So the big way to save money is to lower the strength and duration of the aquarium's lighting.

-Shane

[Bas Pels]

The other point I wanted to make was that, no matter where you live, the aquarium's lighting will consume more electricity than any other component. An Emperor 400 filter uses 19.2 watts of power. Recommended heater for a 55 Gallon tank is 200 watts, but it does not run all the time and probably does not come on at all for parts of the year. However, even a very low light system at 1 watt per gallon will consume 55 watts while the lights are on. So the big way to save money is to lower the strength and duration of the aquarium's lighting.

-Shane

I wrote

Therefore, your tank requires (constanly) 40 watts (heater) + 20 watt light (working half the time) + 12 watts for the pump = 72 watts

I can only agree, of your house is 26 C / 79 F, Shane is right - many fishes would require no heating or cooling

But in Northern Europe, normally the heating is the most expensive / power consuming. Unless you have a so called 'Dutch tank' - with far too many plants in it (far too many being, obviously, my opinion )