This is a question that I have seen getting asked regularly, especially with the rising costs of electricity. So I thought why not write up a quick article on how to calculate the electricity usage of our hobby. Just note when it comes to the electricity usage of your heater, a lot of it comes to estimating how long your heater runs each day which boils down to the ambient temperature and how hot or cold the area you are living in.
How to calculate your monthly aquarium electricity bill?
You will need a few things first: The price per unit that you pay for electricity. Each area is different, and in some areas is more than in others. It also depends on if you are in a residential or factory area. You can get this price off your electricity bill, or when you buy electricity. For the purpose of this example, the unit price I pay per kW is R2.58 per unit (Unit equals 1 kW). The next thing you need is the wattage rating of the aquarium equipment you are using.
So how exactly do you do the math?
Well, one unit of electricity, (R2.58) is equal to 1kW=1000 watts of electricity. The wattage rating on your equipment (eg a 300w heater) means that the heater uses 300 watts of power per hour. 300w = 0.3kW used per hour. Take the wattage of the equipment that you are using in your aquarium and divide that by 1000. But let me explain it a bit more in-depth by using my heater as an example. So for instance a 300 Watt heater would be 300/1000 = 0.3kW. Take this result and multiply it by your electrical unit price: 0.3kW x R2.58 = R0.774. This would be the amount the heater would cost you to run for a single hour. So what you’ve done now is calculate the running cost of your heater for a single hour. You can now multiply this by the number of hours per day, and then the number of days per month to give you a monthly cost.
Let’s use my aquarium equipment as an example:
Aquarium Lights: 25 Watt LED light that runs for 8 hours a day: 25/1000 = 0.025
0.025 x R2.58 x 8 x 31
= R 15.996 per month
Aquarium Filters: 43 Watts combined and runs for 24 hours a day: 43/1000 = 0.043
0.043 x R2.58 x 24 x 31
= R 82.53936 per month
Heating (300 Watt): Assumed average use of 6 hours a day: 300/1000
0.03 x R2.58 x 6 x 31
=R 14.3964 per month
So the total running cost of my aquarium would be: R112.926336 per month. And there we have it, folks! Hopefully, this article will help you get a rough idea of the electrical consumption of your aquarium(s).
