your electric bill?

[teen]

my mom talked to a sales person at my LFS, and they told her that with metal halide lighting and a chiller, our electric bill will go up 90 to 120 dollars a month. so now, she wont let me buy these lights.
im curious to see how much your electric bill went up with your lights, and any other type of large electrical unit(such as a chiller).
and its only a 39 gallon tank, so its going to be a small chiller, with 2x150 MH lights, possibly 2x175.

 

[speg]

I think that guy was on crack.

 

[shnabbles]

Ya thats ludicris.... only bill i noticed a change in was my water bill and thats cause RO machines waste so much water when creating pure water

 

[murph145]

for my tank which is a 180
i have 2-250WDE HQI metal halide set-ups
260W of PC
a sequence Dart on my CL
a pan-world 100px-x on my sump return
ASM G-4 skimmer
18W UV
Calcium Reactor setup
fluval 404 to run carbon
an aqua via cc-50 chiller
i found my elec bill is about $80-90 a month higher for my tank out here in so cali where electricity is almost as expensive as gas
on a smaller tank id say it should be alot less

 

[jamie814]

It's not that hard to figure out exactly what your tank is going to cost you to run per month. First you need to figure out how many hours a day each item pumps, heater, lights, chiller ect. is going to be on. Then take the wattage of each item and multiply it by the number of hours it is on per day. Now take that total of all the items and add that up. Next divide that total by 1000. (most electric companies bill by the kilowatt hour which is 1000 watts.) Now you will have to look at your electric bill to see what you are charged per kilowatt (1000 watts) of electricity you use, this varies greatly depending on where you live that’s why you need your bill statement. Finally take the total you got after multiplying by 1000 and multiply that by what your cost is per kilowatt hour and that is your total cost to run your tank per month see... easy isn't it :hilarious
I have a 90 gallon reef with a chiller and metal halides and see about $30 to operate it per month in electricity.

 

[mkengr45]

the guy is a moron..... I run 3 250w metal halides and didnt notice a substantial change in my electric bill.

 

[murph145]

man u guys must be lucky out here my average KW runs me about $.21
my tank uses about 16KW a day which is about $3.37 a day in cost then multiply it by 30 days i got a $100 a month electric bill just for my tank
im tryin to figure out how to save some money im turning my MH's down to only 7 hours and i think im guna swtich to a smaller return pump on my sump its got too much power anyways

 

[jakebtc]

cali citizens are gettin jerked it's too bad

 

[murph145]

tell me about it its outraegous the cost of living out here in general is rediculous
my 1600sf house that was built in 91 is going for over $600,000 now its just stupid

 

[connor]

Originally Posted by murph145
tell me about it its outraegous the cost of living out here in general is rediculous
my 1600sf house that was built in 91 is going for over $600,000 now its just stupid
OMG its just like that in boca raton the 4 bedroom house were renting built in the 50's would be 620,000 its like 1800 sqft

im 13 so i dont really look at the bills but my dad said he didnt really even notice and increase on the bill i run 2 250 MH"S

 

[8x8nhl]

ya im 11 and im fixin to get my 75 gal reef with 2x250watt mh's, do you think there will be a large bill increase?

(reads bill)-> :scared:

 

[seareef]

i have a high engergy flow going to my tank...lights/ etc.
my whole house bill per month is like $85

 

[mrdc]

My halides come to about $17 extra a month. I haven't really notcied a spike in my bill since I started though I know it has to be slightly increased. Now the water bill is another story ...

 

[fishy7]

Originally Posted by jamie814
It's not that hard to figure out exactly what your tank is going to cost you to run per month. First you need to figure out how many hours a day each item pumps, heater, lights, chiller ect. is going to be on. Then take the wattage of each item and multiply it by the number of hours it is on per day. Now take that total of all the items and add that up. Next divide that total by 1000. (most electric companies bill by the kilowatt hour which is 1000 watts.) Now you will have to look at your electric bill to see what you are charged per kilowatt (1000 watts) of electricity you use, this varies greatly depending on where you live that’s why you need your bill statement. Finally take the total you got after multiplying by 1000 and multiply that by what your cost is per kilowatt hour and that is your total cost to run your tank per month see... easy isn't it :hilarious
I have a 90 gallon reef with a chiller and metal halides and see about $30 to operate it per month in electricity.
Looks like Jamie has the best plan. Get all the numbers together and run it through the mill and share the results with mom....

She will be impressed no doubt.
I run a 215 and it costs me $25 extra a month and I am running MH & PC for 9 hours a day. Bill before the tank: $125. With tank $150. Small price to pay for such a cool hobby.
Let us know how it works out.

 

[drew2005]

Originally Posted by teen
my mom talked to a sales person at my LFS, and they told her that with metal halide lighting and a chiller, our electric bill will go up 90 to 120 dollars a month. so now, she wont let me buy these lights.
im curious to see how much your electric bill went up with your lights, and any other type of large electrical unit(such as a chiller).
and its only a 39 gallon tank, so its going to be a small chiller, with 2x150 MH lights, possibly 2x175.
Being on Long Island with LIPA and all their BS surcharges, expect your bill to be between $150-$200 a month. I dont have metal halides yet and my bill is around $125 a month. This summer is going to be sick. BEtween my pool, the AC, the tank with halides, im looking at least $200. LIPA just sucks.

 

[civileng68]

I have a 250 Watt MH light and run it for 8 hours per day and I haven't noticed my bill move up enough to even know for sure that it's from the tank light instead of something else.

 

[dingo0722]

my 90 is about $20 a month. I have 2 175w MH and 2 110W VHO, plus 4 pumps running

 

[jessecnc]

Check out this link...it will calculate your electrical bill based on what you have, how long it runs, and the price of a KWH.
http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

 

[mkengr45]

I live in San Antonio TX, and I am pretty sure our power is relatively cheap. I run 2 tanks, with a total of 4 250w halides, 2 mag9.5s, Ocean Runner 2500, and Sedra pumps on the skimmers. I keep the AC set at 75 degrees, and never really need to turn on the heater. my electric bill averages probably $85 a month. I live in a condo now so its not a huge place, so that helps i'm sure. The cost increase should not be very much most likely.... You could also just use fans to cool the tank.
Randy

 

[cowfishrule]

do you even need a chiller?
you may not even have heat issues.
also, maybe you can scale back your lighting.
i think 350wt over a 39g might be a tad much.