The cost of it all

[ninjamini]

I just got a $311 electric bill. Normally this time of year its $170-$200. Could it be the addition of the 2 x 150 MH and 2 x 96 Atinic? Plus the bigger return pump that I am running for the bigger tank?
Here is my electric:
2 x 150 MH 6 hours a day
2 x 96 atinic 12 hours a day
pump 73 watts 24 hours a day
heater 150 watts (I dont know how to guess how many hours a day its on)
Soon to add:
Coralife Turbo Twist U.V Sterilizer 6x-18watt
Protein Skimmer w/pump (Aqua Clear Aquatics for up to 150 gallons) 43 watts
How do I figure the cost of it all? Could it really be $100 per month.

 

[lionfish1]

could be. Another expendature of this hobby. It's great isn't it.

 

[james983]

$3000.00 -Tank and Equpment
$2000.00 - Fish, Coral and Live Rock
$100.00 - a month for electric
Owning a piece of the ocean-PRICELESS

 

[zanoshanox]

hahaha ^
My electris for my little 20 gallon runs me about 50 bucks a month and i only have 135 w pc's on about 9 hours a day, and a fluval, 75 w heater, thats it. :O

 

[dragonboy]

Mine cost me about 50 to 60 bucks on my 100 gallon. I'm running 5 hours a day on my 2-250mh and acinitc for 8 hours. But my skimmer is only running during the day.

 

[big]

The math is fairly easy to figure out how much you are using. Simply take the total number of watts you think use pre day............. 1000 watts for an hour usage is one Kilowatt. The Kilowatt is what the electric company charges you for. Then check your bill to see the charge per Kilowatt............... And yes the bills go up!!!! The lights I have are 400 watts on 12 hours a day, that is almost five kilowatts a day just there. thirty day month that's 150 extra kilowatts a month just on lights!! That's 15 bucks more a momth on just the lights at 10 cents an hour(cheap these days) Lets say your bill charge is 10 cents a kilowatt, it may be MUCH higher!!! The rise in your bill did seem to be a bit high but remember that light set up is using about 600 watts per hour ever hour they are on!!!.......... Warren

 

[gatorwpb]

Ninja, it doesnt make sense that your system would cause that much of a spike. Prior to my tank, I was having elec bills of approx. $85-95 for my condo.
I now leave my A/C on 24/7 when I used to turn it off during the day while at work.
For the tank, I have:
150W HQI x2 w/ 18 moonlights(7.5hrs)
CSS 65
2 MJ1200s
Rio 1700+ return
26W PC fuge light (opposite schedule)
7" clip on fan (MH schedule)
200w heater (probably never on)
and my bill is $130-135 now. So it doesnt seem that it could have gone up $100 for you. :notsure:

 

[acrylic51]

Could be possible depending on the efficiency of your equipmet......What kind of pump???

 

[dragonboy]

Well base on every watt my tank consume I calculate the whole thing to be 20 bucks a month if everything was calculated correctly.

 

[ninjamini]

So if something is listed as using 150 watts...is that per second, hour, day?
Originally Posted by big
The math is fairly easy to figure out how much you are using. Simply take the total number of watts you think use pre day............. 1000 watts for an hour usage is one Kilowatt. The Kilowatt is what the electric company charges you for. Then check your bill to see the charge per Kilowatt............... And yes the bills go up!!!! The lights I have are 400 watts on 12 hours a day, that is almost five kilowatts a day just there. thirty day month that's 150 extra kilowatts a month just on lights!! That's 15 bucks more a momth on just the lights at 10 cents an hour(cheap these days) Lets say your bill charge is 10 cents a kilowatt, it may be MUCH higher!!! The rise in your bill did seem to be a bit high but remember that light set up is using about 600 watts per hour ever hour they are on!!!.......... Warren

 

[big]

The watt usage is per hour for calculations. OK a piece of equipment uses a rated 150 watts per hour in continual use (heaters are the exception they only run part time.) .
So it would then take just under seven(7) hours to use one kilowatt of power. Seven hours would be 150 times 7 1050 watts of just over one kilowatt. One (1)thousand watts is one kilowatt..........Hope this helps..
An easy way to look at it would be if something uses 500 watts it would use one(1) kilowatt ever two(2) hours it runs :thinking: .............Warren

 

[windmill]

Electricity scares me.