Energy Cost of a Marine Aquarium
Budgeting the Electrical Costs Associated with a Saltwater Aquarium
Failing to figure the monthly electrical cost of a marine aquarium can lead to disaster when you can't afford your electricity bill several months down the road.
While the saltwater aquarium hobby does not have to be cost prohibitive, it can quickly become a financial burden you are unable to support if you do not budget properly. In most cases, the marine aquarist has recurring costs in the areas of synthetic salt mix, water (and/or water treatment) and electricity. This article deals with the latter, and gives the aquarist the tools necessary to budget his or her monthly electrical costs.
Step 1 – Create a Two Column List
- If your marine aquarium is already set-up and running, create a two column list with every piece of equipment with a plug written in the left hand column. Alternatively, list every piece of equipment with a plug that you plan to use in the system.
- Add the wattage for each piece of equipment to the right hand column. On each piece of equipment, you should see a metal plate or a sticker with technical information about the product. For example, on a Sedra submersible pump (submersible pumps are typically called powerheads), the following information is provided (also see picture):
SEDRA® POWER HEAD
MODEL: KSP-5000
115V/60Hz 50W
MAX. FLOW: 500 GPH
MAX. FLOW: 2000l/h
H/MAX:10ft,3m
- Find the wattage of the piece of equipment (often identified, as in the above example, by the letter “W”), and add that to your list in the right hand column.
Step 2 - Adjust Wattages Where Necessary
- Some equipment in your system will not run 24/7. Identify this equipment with an asterisk. Most likely, you will be marking your lights, heater and chiller. If you have other devices on timers, thermostats or float switches, or if you have equipment run by a controller, you will want to put an asterisk next to these items as well.
- For every item on your list with an asterisk, estimate a percentage of time per 24-hour period when that device is on. For lights, this is pretty straightforward, as most aquarists run their lights on a 12 or 14 hour light cycle (note that if you have various lights coming on at different times, you need to account for each as a separate piece of equipment.) For devices such as heaters and chillers, you can simply estimate the wattage at 50%. For devices like automatic top-offs, which may run less than 10-minutes a day, you can either do the math or exclude the device from the list. Remember, the goal here is to develop an estimate for budgeting purposes.
- Now multiply the wattage by the percentage for every piece of equipment with an asterisk—these are your adjusted wattages for those devices. Add up all the watts and write this number at the bottom of the right hand column.
Step 3 – Covert Watts to kilowatt
- Knowing the following formula is essential for this next step:
1000 watts = 1 kilowat (kW)
- Convert the number at the bottom of the right column on your list to kilowatts by dividing that number by 1000. This is how many kilowatts your system uses.
Step 4 – Converting Kilowatts to Cash
- You now need to determine what percentage of 1000 your kilowatt figure represents. For example, if you came up with 500 kilowatts, that would be 50-percent of 1000.
- Now look at your last energy bill, and see how much you pay per kilowatt. Multiply this number by the percentage you calculated at the beginning of step four, and voila! That should be a reasonable estimate of the hourly cost of running your system.
The copyright of the article Energy Cost of a Marine Aquarium in Aquariums is owned by Ret Talbot. Permission to republish Energy Cost of a Marine Aquarium must be granted by the author in writing.
