Electricity costs

Hey guys,

I got bit of a shock this morning after i bought R500 worth of prepaid electricity. Before the eskom price hike i used to get 1109 units.... i now get 837... thats 272 units less!

I run 6x1.2m tanks in an enclosed room, the 2.5m in my lounge, a koi pond with a 0.75kw Speck Hydrostar and a swimming pool with a 0.45kw speck pump.

All of the heaters add up to 2600w. the lights in the fishroom alone is 636watt and the lights on the 2.5 add up to 340watts. Now in winter the heaters stay on pretty must the whole time.... so lets say 80% of the time the heaters are on.... thats 2080w/h add the lights and it comes to 3056w/h just on the fish tank for ever hour that the light and the heaters are on...

at the moment i use +- R1300 worth of power a month and i need to cut down. my 1st job will be put poly sheets on the 3 non viewing sides of all the tanks... on hte 2.5 this wont work as it is viewable from 3 sides....

I plan on completely cover the 2.5's sump with poly... and also to take out the 300watt Jagers in the 1.2m tanks and replacing them with the correct size....

What do you guys think?

 

I'm having much of the same problem as you know Henk. Except I pay more for my electricity for some reason I'm estimating that my new electricity bill with this latest increase will be approximately R2100-R2400 per month. I currently use about R1400.00. Any suggestions to bring the electricity cost would help, so bring it on!!!!!

 

i have 150sq/m worth of carpet tiles here that i am going to put down in the fishroom over the tiles to try and keep some of the heat in

 

If you have a dedicated fish room you can close the door when you are not there so that the temp stays higher - you will use less electricity for heating accross all off those tanks. Lightning could be made more efficient with some reflective material behind (on top of) the lights so that light going up eventually comes down to your plants where you want it rather than being absorbed by a dark canopy.

Sometimes physics is just a b!tch :frown:

 

all of what you said is already like that

 

NOW I'M GLAD MTS HAS NOT INFECTED ME YET

***** L O (really) L *****

 

I am so glad you added the YET......MTS is highly contagious!

 

Well, I have got a second tank lying around. It's my first 40l that I started with 5 months ago. But the flat is too small to set it up as well. So only have the one for now. But I have considered setting the small one up in my study or office as a small Betta tank show-piece... heehee

 

The first symptoms are showing.....hahahaha

 

So who wants to come help cut poly sheets

 

I'd love to Henk. Can I ask that you book 2 tickets for me and my wife to come down? Plane of Blue train... whichever suits your pocket...?

 

I agree there wholehartedly with Vee. It is VERY contagious, and once you have it, death is the only cure. Just got tank no. 5 last night. And that is within a space of 5 months LOL

 

One per month - not too shabby there Carping

 

Would it not be better to heat the room? This is the dilemma I face at the moment. I have about 20 tanks in my fish room, each with at least 1 heater. Is the cost effective solution not to heat the entire room rather?

How would one go about this though?

 

Slagter our fish room, holding approximately 30 or so tanks, generally stays at a temp of around 22-24 degrees. Yet the heaters still work at night when the overall temp drops dramatically. I've considered getting those wall heaters (not sure what you call them now, I've gone brain-dead - the square ones which are wall mounted and you can paint over them?). Those are economical and are said to work quite well. I've never actually sat down and done the calculations as to what the savings would be though......

 

Henk wouldn't it make more sense to heat the room rather, instead of individual tanks?

Surely like one R300 wall panel heater will be just enough to push up the general room temperature so it isn't TOO hot, but at the same time lowering the need to per tank heating to the bare minimum?

 

no idea dont think so....

 

Space heating is recommended for dedicated fish rooms - the only problem (not insurmountable) is regulating the temperature accurately. This requires at least 3 thermocouples and a good controller.

But it makes for an easy backup solution.

 

I have the same problem..i have a fishroom in my back garage..currently running 8 x1,2m,3x1m tanks,n 45cm tank..i want to do what a former malawi breeder from somerset west used in 2 of his fishrooms..lined all walls n ceiling with polystyrene sheets,always kept doors n windows closed n used small heater in the room..the place was hot all d time..i really have 2make a plan..i'm basically only paying electricity with the fish i'm breeding.

 

It costs me about 100 bucks a month to ran a 240 and an 80L