Electricity

[andniss]

I'm intersted in building a 200gal. reef aquarium with SPS, ofcourse, and curious as to how much the elecricity bill will go up.

[RobbyG]

In order to give you even a ballpark answer you would need to give more info.

What type of lights T5, MH ?
Chiller or Heaters?
Full blown system with recirc pumps, Kalc Reactor etc or simple?
Whats your electric rates?

[andniss]

For what I want for the tank my research shows the Metal Halide will be needed and will also have chiller/heater as well with calcium reactors and skimmers. My rates average between .170 to .180 kwh.

[Icky]

This may help

http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

[Konadog]

Watts are watts, If you have 300 watts of PC lighting and replace them with one 250 watt MH, your bill goes down. Or the other way around if you increase your wattage.

[RobbyG]

"Watts are watts" is true but if someone says they want to setup a 200 Gallon SPS tank with MH, then it might need about 750 watts of lighting, if they say they want T5 it may only need 350 Watts of lighting. Thats a big difference in power consumption.


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6995122#post6995122 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Konadog
Watts are watts, If you have 300 watts of PC lighting and replace them with one 250 watt MH, your bill goes down. Or the other way around if you increase your wattage.

[Kitche]

Electricity costs?

Easiest way to reduce electricity:

1) Replace house light bulbs with energy saving bulbs

2) Turn off appliances when not in use, ie. dont leave TV/Videos on standby

etc. etc.

Reefkeeping shouldn't cost THAT much of as an increase in bills.

[bjonesjr1]

Chaning of bulbs around the house was a great thing I did, It lowered my power bill pretty nicely, That would help you offset some of the power consumption from the tank that you wil incur...

[TheFlyingTang]

IMHO if you can't afford the electricity, you can't afford to properly care for livestock.

[andniss]

It's not about affording it, I love aquariums and the beauty of nature. I just like to know ahead of time of the shock, I'm a person who likes to be prepared for everything.

[WaterKeeper]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6998074#post6998074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kitche
Electricity costs?
Reefkeeping shouldn't cost THAT much of as an increase in bills.

Spoken like a true power company official. Alas, I'm afraid you'll find the electricity involved in keeping a tank can be considerable. Using lights that can illuminate a ball park and having pumps that gobble up watts, a reef can consume many a kilowatt. Of course by keeping a FO or using mainly soft corals you can save but is nothing like keeping a freshwater tank.

Oh and

Hi Andniss and Kitche
[welcome]

[James77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6998074#post6998074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kitche
Electricity costs?

Easiest way to reduce electricity:

1) Replace house light bulbs with energy saving bulbs

2) Turn off appliances when not in use, ie. dont leave TV/Videos on standby

etc. etc.

Reefkeeping shouldn't cost THAT much of as an increase in bills.

I practically walk around with candles in my apartment, and my bill is still over 200. :p

[andniss]

james what is your rate (kwh) of your provider if you don't mind me asking.

[James77]

About .15 per hour. Don't go by the 200 figure- I own a multi-family house and pay for multiple furnaces and lights. My actual tank uses about 100-125/month. All my combined pumps are less than 200 watts, my lights are about 1400 watts, and 700 watts of heating.

You might not need a chiller, you can get alot of cooling from a fan across the sump.
James

[WaterKeeper]

I use a simple formula of a penny a day per gallon for most reef tanks. When my 130 when down my electric dropped about $40 per month. Current electric around here is about 11¢ per kilowatt hour. The electric calculator that was mentioned above does a pretty fair job of estimating costs. It is a must use devise for real large tanks where electrical usage can outstrip the household electrical service's ability to maintain the tank. Tis a really bummer to set up that 250 and flip it on only for your whole house to wink out. :D

[ricks]

The larger the reef the more the cost??? My power bill increased by about 250.00 to 275.00 per month. Total bill run between 350.00 and 400.00 a month. That's with our house on gas for the hot water and heat. Those run an additional 100.00 to 125.00 per month. Not including over 1,000.00 to up grade the electrical panel to handle the increase power compsumtion. It a good idea to consider all your costs up front. Some people buy the tank fill it with water, and than wonder why so much can go wrong.....

Here's to reefing... The only thing more expensive than my wife.

[WaterKeeper]

True, true Rick--It is really bad when when the local nuke plant goes into meltdown. :D

[mikeadams1985]

you should all just hook up to my electricity here in my work shop, the meter hasnt ticked over in a year.

So according to manweb(power supplier) we aint using electricity - haha

[scholl]

what type of bulbs are good energy saver bulbs to replace in the house?

[beaniebeagle]

just take a look at your electric bill. divide the total bill (not only just what the electricity costs, but the taxes added on) by the kilowatthours (1000 watt-hours)

currently my cost (currently i say) is only about 7 cents per kWh

so basically a one hundred watt light bulb on 10 hours a day for 30 days---->$2.10 (100watts x 10 hours=1000 watt-hours which equals one kWh) so for 30 days --> 30 kWh

500 watts --->$10.50

1000watts---> you get the idea ($21.00)

so all the kWh's of the equipment,lights etc will have to be added together

it isnt gonna break your bank account if you can afford just to buy the equipment and the livestock

feel sorry guy in texas--->0.18 per kWh ouch

[toxqc]

you guys are getting riped off

electricity here just went up to 6 cents canadian a KW

[bwilson60]

Well I spend about 400 to 500 per month for 2100kwh.

I have a 150 gal with all the bells and whistles. My tank cost me about 150 to 200 more per month!!!!

To bad the local lfs didnt tell me that when I spent 10k LOL.

[mikenpam]

For your tank a quick gut estimate would be $0.27 per hour when the lights are on and $0.09 while they are off. That comes out to about twice what waterkeeper estimates; however, 0.18 per kWhr is a fairly high rate for electricity and is probably double the average cost.

I work for the local utility and darned if we didn't raise our rates just when I decided to start a reef tank!

[RobbyG]

Thats why I went T5. It was 90% an electricity consumption decision.

[bjonesjr1]

electric rates here inn florida are only 4.9c a kwh plus a fuel charge of 4.97c a kwh

[WaterKeeper]

Tis those fuel charges around here that make it so high.

[RobbyG]

You guys think you have it bad, here in the Caribbean most of the Electric Plants are owned by Morant Industries in the USA, this is the same company that supplies power for many parts of the USA.
only difference is that they charge us more than double the Rate they charge in the USA !! Even though it's the same type of power plants, and their Labor costs are about 1/5 of what they are in the USA.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7017955#post7017955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
Tis those fuel charges around here that make it so high.