150W DE Bulb - LPS, Soft - 8hrs Enough?

[robster]

I am currently running my fixture 8 hours but the electric bill has been quite high since adding the fixture. Can I reduce the hours to 8 vs. the 10 I am running it now since I only have LPS, Softies and one montipora SPS?

[newmoon]

Originally posted by robster
I am currently running my fixture 8 hours but the electric bill has been quite high since adding the fixture. Can I reduce the hours to 8 vs. the 10 I am running it now since I only have LPS, Softies and one montipora SPS?

Yup, the corals you have will do just fine with 8 hours of Halide per day.

[RustySnail]

A 150w lamp should not be causing a high electric bill; what were you using prior? You are running an E-Ballast with that lamp, correct?

You can go with 8 hours of light; should be OK. Remember that reefs dont see full sunlight for the entire day; only for about 6 hours do they get bright sunlight (on non-cloudy days).

[robster]

I was using 192W of compact flourescent. Yes, I am using a blueline e-ballast. The wife brought me the electric bill which had a 14-month trend on it. It showed that this January the kilowatts used drastically went up. Dr. Foster Smith has a new Kilowatt meter that you plug your gear into and it calculates how many killowats you are using per month. It is like $35 though. You think I should stick with the 10 hours? How many hours tdo you run your MH?

[RustySnail]

Hmmm... Still does not make sense. 150w is 150w; your ballast should only be drawing 15w or so. Your CF lamp setup was using 192w which should be more overall than the MH lamp so I would be looking at other possible problems around your house. Lights on, unusually cold this December compared to last year (heater on for more time)? Furnace filter need replace? Refrigerator going out or need cleaning? Look for something other than your tank a 150w MH should really not be using that much power; esp if its rated less net watts than the PC's. I would buy the KW meter, find the source of the energy problem and prove to the wife that it's not your new MH lighting (see honey its this old fridg; we need a new one!) ;)

I'm running my lamps approx. 9 hours.