Amps = Wattage

[thordarj]

Just thought I'd share this with everyone. Some of you may shake your head that I didn't know this, but I figured if I didn't know it others might not as well.

I was always a little confused and kind of annoyed that certain aquarium items listed their power draw in amps. This was annoying to me b/c SK power doesn't measure their power bills in amps, they are interested in watts/h. Since I don't know all that much about elelctrical circuitry and measres of power I started looking around.

http://www.theatrefx.com/funfacts111.html

This site explains how to convert amperage to wattage. Just remember household items run at about 120 volts. Plug the amps in and you will get your wattage per hour.

This certainly helped me in looking at low amperage pumps.

[Invigor]

I noticed a lot of pumps use extremely high amounts of power. I was amazed to find on my mag18 it used 139 watts! I replaced it with 2 aquaclear 500s which use a mere 18w each.

I was playing around with costs a few months ago and figured my tank costs about $20/mo to run.

[thordarj]

I'm a little worried how much my new system will cost per month to run. That's why I'm looking into the lowest wattage options possible.


Hmmm $20 a month hey. You could run an outdoor 5 man hot tub for that much. Just to put in in perspective you know (girls in bikinis and all).

I'm a little worried that my new system will cost $50.00 or more a month. What components are you running, just so I can compare. How did you do your calculations too. I guess I would have to look at my power bill to see how much sk power charges. From what I remember it always lists Kilowats per hour.

[Invigor]

basically just figured out all the wattages of stuff and how much they're on. for example ac 500s are on 24 hours a day at 19w each (or something low like that) so punch that into the site at sask power, do that for all your items and add it up at the end.

everything plugged in matters: heaters, powerheads, filters, skimmers, lights, fans, etc. some powerheads use an unusual amount too

a good place to start for a low wattage high output system would be t5 lighting and a dolphin pump with lots of outputs into the tank to eliminate all use of powerheads. skimmers cost a lot to run too..not sure how well a dolphin would work for those, i'm told they don't do well under high pressure.

tank placement is a good thing to consider too, I keep mine in the basement where it's cool, so my heaters run probably more than they need to to keep it warm, whereas my tank upstairs stays around 75 without a heater in it.

also, to sacrifice less of a dolphin pump, one could run it on a closed loop for the flow in the tank and have only say 400-500gph running thru the sump for the skimmer/heater, etc. more surface area the water has outside the tank, the better it cools off, the more the heater is on.

[shawn lipon]

im not sure who told you that dolphin pumps are not high pressure but i strongly disagree!I ran my 3600gph at only 400 gph for 6 months with no problem.I dont know of too many pumps that you can run with the output slowing flow,most pumps burn out but most dolphins are built for this.i wanted a huge pump that i could slow down or increase to meet changes.Dolphin was the only choise for me.just my opinion

[Invigor]

I meant don't do well as in they lose a lot of flow. the way I intended it to say is if you're trying to run a high pressure skimmer that needs 800gph, in order to get that from a dolphin, you'll have to sacrifice a lot of flow..(figuratively speaking you would then only get about 1000gph to the tank with the rest of it being used on the high pressure skimmer. having a pump that can do 3600gph and only getting 1000gph out of it seems like a waste..but on the flip side you're not wasting power on a pump for the skimmer...but possibly wasting it on powerheads to compensate for the low flow in the tank... I guess it just works out like the t5 vs MH dealy-o, gotta always sacrifice one thing for another...blast! there is no easy way out :(

maybe I should sell the tank and get a hottub.

(now i'm gonna look dumb when someone tells me beckett's aren't high pressure)