JJD

Hi - we are completely new to fish tanks and are just about to purchase a substantial Tropical tank. We`ve gathered a lot of info from our local dealer and from this forum (which has been hugely helpful). The tank is some 6 ft x 5ft comes with one pump/filter and three 50 W bulbs. We are trying to calculate the annual running cost of such a beast; the unit comes with a single 300 W heater and we have been advised that a second pump is a good idea. This gives a total wattage of some 500 W or so. Though i am no heating engineer i assume the heater clicks in and out and averages way below 300 W or power (?). 500 W per year would approximate to something like ?400 of electricity per annum. With food and other consumables running costs could easily be ?600 per annum (too high). Any input very very welcome.
JJD

Callum The Cat

Neville

Hi JJD, Welcome to Fishlore

actually u can't estimate how much it is going to cost u, like your heater may not work sometimes; u have to replce it; some of your costly fish may die unfortunately, sometimes filters don't work; so it is really hard to tell, and money is not everything that u have to worry about, keeping a huge tank is a lot of hard work and committment, u have to spend a lot of time on it, but my suggestion is u should go for the biggest tank u can afford because they r easy to maintain.

Fishkeeping is a great hobby, i bet u will fall in love with it once u start it.

Callum The Cat

COBettaCouple

a tank that size will be some work to maintain but worth it with all that you could do with it! i'd probably go with a couple of heaters (maybe not as high in watts) but totalling the same to distribute the heat faster and perhaps save power usage on them and as a precaution in case one went down. i guess i'd just not be trusting enough to give a tank that size over to just one heater, even if it were a visitherm stealth (our favorite type of submersible heaters).

JJD

Hi - many thanks for all those replies and the welcome. Apologies, i stated the dimensions of the unit not the tank - the tank sits upon a cupboard unit - the tank itself is approximately 5 feet across by 2.5 feet high (and 18 inches deep).

Wodian

its the same size as a 120gallon i checked out before i decided to go with the 150gallon.

ecnaj143

Congrats on your tank. The bigger the tank, the easier to keep. I wouldn't worry about another heater tho, since its such a big tank. Theres less a chance for the water to change a whole lot where it would hurt the fish any. I would get another filter tho, just for the sake of keeping the water current moving. It also keep the tank alot cleaner. I would get a timer for the lights and set it to stay on for about 8-10hrs. That too will be helping to keep your electric cost down. It doesn't really cost anything to keep a tank running. I had 55gal once and my bill only went up like 10bucks.