what a difference (1 Viewer)

[rhane71]

Just added the six foot PM skimmer to my tank and the new 3/4 HP aqualogic chiller to my 200 gal set up. What a difference it makes. the skimmer picks up all kinds of stuff. Within minutes the foam at the top was turning dark brown. I couldn't believe it. My other skimmer is very jealous.

The 3/4 HP chiller is awesome as well. It comes on for 20 minutes and stays off for 2 hours or so. I love it. I am thinking of setting up the 1/2 HP custom sea life as a back up in case something goes wrong, not really sure yet. I do love the way the aqualogic looks. The only thing is I had to change the plug to a 20 amp plug, which took about 5 min. Then I was in business. The aqualogic seems to be better made, IMO. I will take pics if I can get a hold of my brother camera....

abran

 

[ShaneV]

Sounds good,
I assume you have that 20 amp plug on a 20 amp breaker and not a 15 amp breaker right?

 

[Guest]

I was thinking same thing Shane, was also wondering what guage wire is in the wall if he swapped his breaker switch out for a 20amp one.

 

[Guest]

i was wondering how you guys combat the problem with breakers.

the one i had for the room my 200 gallon is in, used to shut off alot

then i just found a plug on a different breaker and used an extension and plugged my MHs in there instead.

i called an electrician to come over and help but all he did was change my breaker to a new one, didnt change amp

 

[ShaneV]

I have 2 dedicated 20 amp breakers running to my tank.

What you need to due is to break each and every part down, and figure out how many amps it uses.
Then you can figure out how much just the tank draws.


If you dont have it on a dedicated circuit, you will have to add what ever else is on that circuit.


Heres an example of Jims Tank electricity usage:

 

[Wildfire]

Shane,

Very cool... how do you calculate the kwh? I'd REALLY like to do this for my new tank..... before my wife tells me that it costs too much

 

[rhane71]

Actually, I have one 20 amp running my MH& vho's. I have a 30 amp for the chiller. I have another 20 amp on the closed loop and pumps. I am thinking of getting 2 more 20's installed here real soon. It makes my life alot easier when my equipment is grouped into function for each breaker. You know one for each of the following: powerheads, pumps, chiller, lights, calcium RX, mixing pumps, etc...

Abran

 

[ShaneV]

I took my 2 20 amp lines and split them out into sort of a control panel. I have seperate switches and plugs for each one of these. Alot cheaper than new breakers and lines, and a lot closer to switch off.

On the chiller you have a 20 amp pluig on a 30 amp breaker? Are you running it as 110 or 220?

THat was Jims spreadsheet, maybe he will chime in on how he figured out the kwh

 

[rhane71]

Everything is 110. And all the plugs are GFCI. One reason I want to run an extra 20 amp breaker is for the 20 amp plug and still keep the 30 amp in case I need it. My cousin is an electrician and does all of our contract work for me and my fathers business. Since we keep him busy he does work for me for free, when he has time...

abran

 

[Guest]

Heres an example of Jims Tank electricity usage:

Very cool... how do you calculate the kwh? I'd REALLY like to do this for my new tank..... before my wife tells me that it costs too much

Wildfire,
All you have to do is look up the power consumption for all of your equipments. Some of your better e-tailers list the specs of the equipment they are selling. Power consumption is usually listed in either watts or kilowatts. If the power is listed in watts, then it is an easy conversion to kilowatts. Now, taking the kilowatt power consumption of the equipment, a kilowatt hour is how much power that equipment will use in an hour. Therefore to find out how much power the equipment will use over the course of a day, week, or month, you just multiply the power consumption by the number of hours that the equipment is running. Pumps run 24 hours per day, usually, therefore a pump that draws 70 watts comes to:

70 watts = .07 kilowatts
.07 Kw * 24 hours = 1.68 KwH per day
1.68 KwH per day = 11.76 KwH per week
1.68 KwH per day = 50.4 KwH per month
1.68 KwH per day = 613.2 Kwh per year.

All you have to do now is multiply the KwH by the cost per KwH that is listed on you electric bill to find out how much you are actually spending on your little box of water.

Jim