Electrical $ of running a tank

[GoPhish]

I've recently started a 120g with 40g sump, about 8 weeks old. I have an ATB 840 skimmer, Eheim 1200 return. Koralie power Head for flow, wave point t5s, 300w heater. Anyway in wondering what the electrical Cost is per month with this set up. Also money has gotten tighter recently, is there a way to save $ on electrical with this set up n still maintain a quality mixed reef. Ie does the skimmer have to run 24/7. Can I shorten photo period. Any other ideas

[ezhoops]

their is a electrical calculator on the home page, but you need to know what and how many watts each piece of equipment runs at. of course your exact elec. rates will also help.
I'm having the same problem

[Frogmanx82]

If your worried about the electric costs, you maybe should switch to freshwater. Electricity costs are way down the list of significant costs, at least as far as any difference you could make by taking short cuts. Food, testing, salt, chemicals plus all the livestock and equipment costs are much more significant.

[SwampyBill]

T5 lights should help keep your electrical costs down. MH can jack up those rates a bunch; not to mention the possible need of a chiller...

[GoPhish]

Im going to hang in there with saltwater. It's been a dream of mine. We had a $900 electric bill 1 month and since then we are on hyper alert, and that was before I even set up my tank. Like many we are on a tight budget these days but I'm convinced that if I go slowly this salt water tank can cone together over time and within budget. I'm sure you can spend a fortune in the hobby with your set up but I'm sure people Also are able to set up a more natural, less gadgety, tank that is less to run

[michael_in_nc]

I doubt the $900 bill is from the tank alone. I have ran calculations that show the tank electrical cost at about $45/month. That was assuming 8.6cents/kW-hour. The dominate source of cost was the Metal Halide lights (3 x 250W for 8hrs/day). The 2nd source was the return pump (90Watts; 24x7). The 24x7 stuff is significant even at lower wattage. Having said that, Skimmers are typically lower power draw even though they run 24/7.

[Frogmanx82]

I have 3 tanks and probably total less than $50 a month on all three though only one is salt. As michael says, lights are the big draw. A 500 watt light fixture running 8 hours a day at the US average of 12 cents a KWhr would be 500 x 8 x .12 x 30/1000 or $14.40 per month. That's just not going to break the bank if you have enough money to get into this hobby. You can't cut the hours enough to make that big a difference. If you have a $900 a month electric bill you need to be looking at cutting something other than the aquarium.

[Reefahholic]

LED's save a lot of money, I think!

[Frogmanx82]

LED's save a lot of money, I think!

Really, how much of $14.40 a month is a lot of money, and that's figuring 500 watts. Most T5 users are less than that.

[Mr.Maska]

900 dollars? good god thats enough for 3 houses in one month.

[BigRedNole]

I estimate my new tank to be about $50/month. This includes electricity, general maintenance/feeding, and water changes. This does not include new inhabitants. I know in many cases money is getting tight. This should be a factor in the decision for getting into the hobby. For me the cost of getting in and monthly maintenance repays me in stress relief.

[shackscs]

$900 for 1 month? Get a Kilowatt meter and test everything you have plugged in to see where that cost is coming from.

I figure I pay about $45-50 per month for my tank.

I pay $132.00 per month for the entire house and would lose it if I got a $900 energy bill.

[karsco]

I'm with Shackscs, that's about what my bill runs in the the mid-west. I would get a meter as well and check everything. Granted in some parts of the country electricity is allot more expensive but $900 is crazy unless you live in very large house.

[Chris27]

Electricity is cheap when compared to everything else in the hobby. For example, baking a few cakes in the oven, or doing a few loads of laundry will surely cost more per month then the tank, and lets not forget about the air conditioning and water heater....or hair dryer....or the stove.

If you're looking to save money with the tank, set it up that way from the start. For example, soft corals and LPS don't need the same light or water parameters as SPS, so you can save money on light bulbs, water changes, supplement dosing, test equipment, and water flow....plus they are just plain cheaper. One nice SPS colony will often times cost as much as 1 month of electricity.

Here is a little math for you based on $0.10 per Kilowatt Hour:

1. Lights - 3 x 250W Metal Halide at 8 hours per day - 6KWH - $0.60/Day - $18.00/Mth.
2. Skimmer - 40W at 24 Hr/Day - 1KWH - $3 / Month.
3. Pumps - 100W at 24 Hr/Day - 2.4KWH - $7 / Month
4. Heater - 3 Hours per day - $3.00 / Month

So a total of about $30 per month for electricity....not too bad.

[Chris27]

Im going to hang in there with saltwater. It's been a dream of mine. We had a $900 electric bill 1 month and since then we are on hyper alert, and that was before I even set up my tank. Like many we are on a tight budget these days but I'm convinced that if I go slowly this salt water tank can cone together over time and within budget. I'm sure you can spend a fortune in the hobby with your set up but I'm sure people Also are able to set up a more natural, less gadgety, tank that is less to run

$900 is crazy - that's a lot of high powered grow lights, why don't your sell some of that green stuff you're hoarding in the basement to fund your reef tank! :spin3:

Joking aside, do you have electric baseboard heaters or a ton of window air conditioners? That would explain a bill that high.

[agreeive?fish]

My entire house is electric with 5 tvs that seem to run 24/7, 5 people to do laundry for cook for, an 80g hot water heater and my heat is "motel style) heat/air units for each room in the house and my electric is about 11 cents per kwh crretly i run a 75g reef,(t-5), a 210g fowlr, a 200g fowlr, a 150g fresh water,20g fw,10g fw multiple box fans running 24/7(cant stand no air moving) and my electric bill AVERAGES 300 a month (lower in winter and higher in summer) and i run 2 mag 24 engergy hog pumps

[tkeracer619]

My tank runs about $120-140 a month best I can figure.

During the summer the 1500w of lighting heat taxes my air conditioner. During the peak month my ac will run 24/7 for 2-3 weeks.

That peak month my bill is double for the tank. I pay to use the light and then pay to cool down the house.

When I own a place and can completely modify the house to suit the fish tank all lighting heat and moisture will be exhausted outside during summer months.

[~JSG~]

Sounds like you have either a drafty house and your losing on heating and cooling. That and make sure you unplug anything other then the tank when you leave the house. THAT will significantly cut your electric bill. If it's plugged in its drawing power! even if its off! I did this and cut my bill in half! No joke! I think the tank is the least of your problems in this case as far as electricity goes. I run a store and have two tanks running and a buch of reptile lights and heat lamps and even a pond! and my electric bill isn't that high so i really don't think its your tank at all! Good Luck!

[Frogmanx82]

My tank runs about $120-140 a month best I can figure.

During the summer the 1500w of lighting heat taxes my air conditioner. During the peak month my ac will run 24/7 for 2-3 weeks.

That peak month my bill is double for the tank. I pay to use the light and then pay to cool down the house.

When I own a place and can completely modify the house to suit the fish tank all lighting heat and moisture will be exhausted outside during summer months.

So are you also figuring in the savings to heat your home in the winter?

[mscarpena]

I have a 75 and a 60 gallon reef tank and my whole electric bill for my entire house is about 100-130 per month. 900 something does not seem right to me.

[viper12775]

lol sorry had to do it i found its best not to think about it

[suds1421]

Electrical costs aren't too bad for most people. It's all the other stuff we "have" to have :)

Get yourself a meter, home depot sells them, that should help you with your light bill.

[scuba guy ron]

gophish, sounds like someone is stealing your electricity. my 37g takes no moe then 30.00 per month. when i lived in buffalo NY my gas bill was 375.00 one month ihe winter and electricity costs way less than that. i now live in florida and our bill never goes over 130.00. either your family is leaving every light and appliance on 24/7 or you need to be calling the electric company.

[marioensf]

These are the rates for the SF Bay Area, you do the math

Total Energy Rates ($ per kWh)
Baseline Usage $0.12233 (I)
101% - 130% of Baseline $0.13907 (I)
131% - 200% of Baseline $0.28011 (R)
201% - 300% of Baseline $0.38978 (R)
Over 300% of Baseline $0.38978 (R)

[suds1421]

gophish, sounds like someone is stealing your electricity. my 37g takes no moe then 30.00 per month. when i lived in buffalo NY my gas bill was 375.00 one month ihe winter and electricity costs way less than that. i now live in florida and our bill never goes over 130.00. either your family is leaving every light and appliance on 24/7 or you need to be calling the electric company.


I was thinking electric heat... but yeah $900 a month is still way high, Our highest bill's are $135 in the summer, but we do live in wisconsin.

[reefergeorge]

I have a 90, but roughly the same equipment as you. My electric bill is $100 in summer, and $40 in winter. I assume the tank is about $15 a month extra.

[scuba guy ron]

I was thinking electric heat... but yeah $900 a month is still way high, Our highest bill's are $135 in the summer, but we do live in wisconsin.

here we run full electric with ac 24/7 for 10 monthsa year and never more then 130.00

[GoPhish]

Ok just to clarify. The $900 was before I ever even got the tank. I had many relatives down on their luck and had about 10 people living with me. Things were left on including A/C 24/7. It was only 1 month n then after putting my foot down we got it down to $150 per month. My wife n I and now hypersensitive to electric bill and just worried about the tank

[sslak]

You should expect to spend $30-40 per month on a tank that size.

I figure my 58g reef with 500w of lighting runs me about $20 per month in electrical cost.

[Frogmanx82]

I think the point comes down to this. You aren't going to save enough money by turning equipment off or by running the lights on a short cycle to amount to much. If you can afford a reef tank, the electric costs are your least concern.

[Conrad25]

He didn't say his tank was the source of a 900.00 bill. Thats ridiculas though for a energy bill. Tanks on average cost 50-100 depending on how much stuff you got going on. I Have a 35.00 bill from electric on my reef tank and most of it is from the 500watts of light on it 8 hours a day. Just don't use the lights all day and night and you will be fine. Stick to 8 hours and I would not shut your skimmer on and off as it will constantly need to be adjusting and the 5.00 it cost to run it a month is not worth the hassle

[DEXNC]

maybe gophish meant 90.00, are like other posts you live in a very large house. on my 265 i got 1 return 2 closed loop, chiller chiller pump, uv pump, 2 phosban with pump calcium reactor 2 400 mh 4 110 vho's 2 canopy fans and other small items my house is 2984 sq. ft. my bill never goes over 300.00

[d0ughb0y]

These are the rates for the SF Bay Area, you do the math

Total Energy Rates ($ per kWh)
Baseline Usage $0.12233 (I)
101% - 130% of Baseline $0.13907 (I)
131% - 200% of Baseline $0.28011 (R)
201% - 300% of Baseline $0.38978 (R)
Over 300% of Baseline $0.38978 (R)

Really, how much of $14.40 a month is a lot of money, and that's figuring 500 watts. Most T5 users are less than that.

if say you replace a 250MH with a 100W LED, running light at 8 hours a day, you save 8*150/1000*30*0.38978 = $14 a month or $168 a year. If you add the cost of replacing the MH bulb once a year, then its about $250 a year difference. nobody knows how long LEDs will really last, but assuming it does, then long term savings can become significant.

[marioensf]

PG&E loves people around this are that have nice size tanks; myself have a 90G and my bill would be around $40; lots of people have electric bills on the hundreds a month around here.

[sfboarders]

OK Mario sucked me in here so here it goes...My last PG&E bill was about $230. This is the highest it's ever been. $70 of it was to gas the rest was to electricity. My tank is a 100 gallon running 6x54W T5's. I changed my lights to 2 x 250W MH and Reefbrites last week and I'm sure it'll be more when I get the next bill.

I know a few members in our club have bills in the $500+ range.

[andyman]

The main problem to everyones PGE bill is the tiered rate system. We re on a 5 tier system and once you go above teir 3 (very easy to do) then your bill starts to double or more.

The only way you can save mney in the long run if you want to keep a reef tank is to buy solar panels. You don't have to fill your roof up with panels. You just need to lower your tier so your not at the top. There are many programs out there that can help finance this.

If you can't do it or down own your home or live in an apartment, then **** your almost out of luck. replace lighting with LED would make the biggest difference.

[FearTheTerps]

As a general rule of thumb, depending on varying rates, is that 1 watt ran 24hours per day will cost you about $1 per year.

Obviously equipment like lights dont run 24/7, usually 1/3 of the day, do adjust accordingly

[marioensf]

In no way I mean to de-moralize anyone wanting to get in the hobby or those that just started. Power bills will vary by area/state or as we have it, by tier with PG&E; hey, they wanted to charge customers for the San Bruno disaster in order to pay for all damages!!!
I'm in California where weird ideas take place and my town, San Francisco has this weird proposal from the transportation authority to charge motorists to enter AND leave the city !!! ...yup that crazy...

[GoPhish]

No unfortunately it was 9 hundred for 1 month. My house is 3500sq ft. 3 stories with 3 separate AC units. I live in California and have 4 kids and my wife is a stay at home mom. Every dime counts and everything right now is budgeted. I just wasn't sure if tank was going to lead to another massive electric bill. The hobby is amazing and I really enjoy it but it's a tough hobby for the economic times were in

[Sport507]

I'm really new at the hobby, but been there and done that on the family. If every dime counts. You never know when you might need to spend another 4-5 hundred $$$ just to keep things going.

[Cj923]

Damnnnnnn 900$ lol

[Hookup]

My system eats $125/month.

800watts lights (6hrs/day or 25% 200watts average)
2x360 watt cl pumps
1x340watt return pump
1x260watt skimmer pump
Heater and misc parts are difficult to measure
For a total of 1160 or 1.16kw each hour
0.15$/kw hr where I live

$0.15*1.16*24*30.5 = $125

[marioensf]

I'm really new at the hobbie, but been there and done that on the family. If every dime counts. You never know when you might need to spend another 4-5 hundred $$$ just to keep things going.

Planning a good system/equipment should give you no big headaches; I have no steady job and holding on OK; keeping a low profile no uber-technologically advanced energy guzzling tank. Run 2 250W-MH 10hrs. a day BUT alternating on the power.

[d0ughb0y]

No unfortunately it was 9 hundred for 1 month. My house is 3500sq ft. 3 stories with 3 separate AC units. I live in California and have 4 kids and my wife is a stay at home mom. Every dime counts and everything right now is budgeted. I just wasn't sure if tank was going to lead to another massive electric bill. The hobby is amazing and I really enjoy it but it's a tough hobby for the economic times were in

still does not look right. you're in california, so you can't be living in a centuries old house with poor insulation, etc.

maybe your smart meter is running a tad fast.

turn all your power off, I mean unplug everything and see if your meter is still running.

if $900 is all for electricity, that means you are consuming approximately 3000watts 24/7.

when my pge bill went over $200, the first thing I did was turn off 2 computers when not in use (they used to be on 24/7), and my bill the following month went down to almost half.

[Kengaroo131]

i had just installed solar panles on my barn in the back to power my house, of course its not cheap, but it pays off in the long run. my last electric bill was 15.74 and thats for my entire house. it was also cloudy most of that month. if its consistant sun the electric company will usually pay me because i am pulling so much energy and cant use it all. its good to look into but its expensive to get it started.

[Neptune_Fan]

My entire house is electric with 5 tvs that seem to run 24/7, 5 people to do laundry for cook for, an 80g hot water heater and my heat is "motel style) heat/air units for each room in the house and my electric is about 11 cents per kwh crretly i run a 75g reef,(t-5), a 210g fowlr, a 200g fowlr, a 150g fresh water,20g fw,10g fw multiple box fans running 24/7(cant stand no air moving) and my electric bill AVERAGES 300 a month (lower in winter and higher in summer) and i run 2 mag 24 engergy hog pumps

Wow...sounds like the Oklahoma Aquarium is @ your house..I'd love to see that setup

[langtudatinh01]

yeah, that does not sound right. you should check the meter or the electric company. it could be an error on the bill. i live in alaska, so everyone always think we get pay with gold up here and my electric bill is with a 40 breeder did not go past 100 bucks. i only live by myself those.

[chicken]

$900 is not that high in PG&E territory. I used to run $1,350 per month during the winter months with my two systems. With the Tier 4 and Tier 5 rates collapsing into 1 rate per say earlier this year and going down in price and moving my large fish system over to natural gas heating my bills last month was down to $800. Novembers bill was $650. So I am a happy camper I guess you can say :( I wish we had cheap power like many other states.

[OregonReefer]

$900 is not that high in PG&E territory. I used to run $1,350 per month during the winter months with my two systems. With the Tier 4 and Tier 5 rates collapsing into 1 rate per say earlier this year and going down in price and moving my large fish system over to natural gas heating my bills last month was down to $800. Novembers bill was $650. So I am a happy camper I guess you can say :( I wish we had cheap power like many other states.

WOW... I'm currently running 155g in a couple freshwater plant tanks, so while we're not talking halides I do have decent lighting for them. My gas/eletric combined is in the $230 range (even billing)... with the new 120 mixed I'm expecting to be in the $270ish range

[marioensf]

That's the reason PG&E loves saltwater tanks, specially reef ones, heck; ponds, freshwater, reptiles... and anyone growing stuff.

[Frogmanx82]

This should be an eye opener for people how stupid energy policies can jack our electric bills by over 300%. We need to keep burning coal with smart regulations. CO2 cap and trade is nothing but a money game.

[chicken]

While I am not a fan of my sky high utility bill you should know as well as I do as a reefer, burning crazy amounts of coal for power is not going to help the ongoing climate warming that is decimating the reefs around the world. That's my peace, now lets not take this any further into the political realm or the Mods will close the thread.

[marioensf]

Well said !