dire help needed with energy efficiency

[Gimplar]

ok well, i just got my utility bill and its just about 300 bucks (for the entire apt). I also split my apartment with 3 other roommates (4 including me) and they are complaining that it's my fishtank. I was wondering...

what pulls the most power usage out of a reef tank? im running 3 175MH's and 4 110watt VHO's, also a little giant return pump, and a dinky little protein skimmer, im also running an additional genx external pump that is running my 30 watt UV sterillizer. I run the lights for about 12 hours a day.

do you think my tank is the sole cause of this dramatic overage on utilities?

the bill isnt including water since we have unlimited water here.

heres a big question:

do T5's use less power then MH's? im assuming yes.

 

[CMcNeil]

gimplar sorry to say it but a watt is watt.no matter what kind of lighting you run 500w mh is the same cost as 500w T5.use the electricity calculator on rc's main page.you can find out exactly what it cost to run your tank.i pay $.055/kwh.

 

[fsuraven]

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/electrical_costs.php

hers a link to a calc that might help

 

[BillyFSU]

Lighting alone is using 965W, which running at 12 hrs a day at 12 cents per KWH adds about 43 dollars a month to your bill. Factor in heaters, the pumps etc I'd guess your adding at least 55 dollars a month. However when I lived with 3 other people (and no fish tank) it wasn't uncommon for us to hit 300 in the summer months. If you live in an older apartment with crappy insulation and run the heater/AC alot it adds up quick. Did someone run the heater when it actually got cold last month? Its always possible the elec company guessed your utility average the month before and did an avg power usage rather than read your meter so when they actually read your meter you got backbilled in January.


T5's will use less electricity if you run the same number of bulbs, ie 4x54W T5s rather than the 4x110W VHO's you're running now.

 

[mlivvy]

My bill was high too. I fixed the problem by running t5's most of the day and the halides just for a few hours.

I don't think you need 500w of T5 lighting to make up 500w of halides due to t5's having more intensity. But I could be wrong.

 

[Gimplar]

Ok very cool, thanks abunch for the feed back! whats the Kwhr in tampa? is there a link that tells you how much they charge? and im looking at a PDF of tampa electrics charge rates and it seems liek they charge you two fees. One for the price to supply the power, and another price for the fuel cost. yeah, i definetly think im going to be upgrading my lights to run them more cost efficiently.


T'5s with good reflectors are definetly more affective then VHOs?

yeah, it costs me about 40 bucks a month to run my tank...ok, no biggie, but i really think alot of it are my roommates leaving their lights on alot as well as having their girlfriends basically live over here and their girlfriends doing their laundry over here as well.

 

[poknsnok]

300.00?? holy crap.. my house was only 275.00 last month with my 200 gal monster

 

[a2fire2i]

how long have you had the fish tank up? cant you look at bills before that date, compare and pick up the difference?? if everything stays timed on your tank, then the number shouldnt change each month..

 

[leoskee]

Regardless of how you want to look at it, you are definitely carrying the bulk of the electric use. If you have to split the bill with 3 other people you would bare a much larger portion than 25% of the bill. That's if your roommates do not have reef tanks themselves. If they each have a tank it is an even split. You can expect to pay an equal amount to the rest of the people running a reef tank in your apartment.

My reef tank alone adds about $60 a month to my bill.

 

[triggerfish1976]

It could be from your A/C. The heat generated from the tank obviously adds additional heat to your appt. thus making the A/C run more to keep the space at the set temps. Apt. A/C units are generally not the most efficient and can be energy hogs.
If you are not running a chiller and using fans to blow air across the top of the tank then that hot air has to go somewhere and it is generally going into your living space.
My old tank used to be setup so everything was in the house including the chiller. Everytime the chiller ran the heat from it's exhaust warmed up the room and made it the A/C run non-stop in the winter. My average electrical bill in the summer was $500-$600. When I setup the new tank and plumped all of the my filtration and chiller outside so I no longer have heat issues in the house. My electrical bill now avg. about $400 in the summer and $300 in the winter. Is there anyway to rig something that would allow you to vent the hot air outside?

 

[sinful]

tons of laundry can increase your bill alot too

 

[ReefArtist]

Just to let you know my bill was higher than normal this month - rates are higher. I thought it was my tank until I looked at the actual usage and compared it to other months. But with that big of a tank - to be truthful, you should pay a little more than the other roommates. Of course unless they have hobbies or habits that also run up the power. I'm not talking about picky things - big things like say a reef tank .

 

[LauraCline]

You should pay a little more because the reef tank definately goes beyond normal use but, laundry also adds alot to the electricity bill. My husband is a firefighter and they are able to wash their uniforms and work clothes in the station facilities and just that made a noticeable difference in the electric bill. We also bought a newer, more efficient dryer a while back and our bill dropped.

 

[A.T.DAWG]

shhh..... dont tell my parent the tank is going to raise their electric bill, im pretty sure i convinced them otherwise

 

[robthorn]

get a meter called a kill a watt and it will tell you exactly how much power each item uses and you can figure out the best way to lessen your bills. $35 on ebay.

 

[alizarin]

I've got a kill-a-watt if you want to get an exact measurement of how many watts you're using. Let me know and I'll stop by with it.

I can't think of how you'd figure out the A/C cost though. You could measure the watts used by the heater in a day and double it (one to heat the water, one for the A/C to balance it out?) but I don't know how you'd measure the heat given off by the lights. I guess you could write down your kwh's for a normal day, then do it again one day with the lights off.

 

[Gimplar]

it's cool, let me talk to thme tomorrow, they'll probably be happy if i pay 10 bucks for each of their bills which is fair, i have fans that blow the hot air out so it doesnt realy heat the apt up that much. or atleast i dont think, im seriously considering a conversion to T5's and running my MH's only 3-4 hours a day.

 

[robthorn]

you can't say an a/c watt is the same as an electric heating watt. they are different because electric heat is the only type of temperature conditioning that is 100% efficient. heat pumps and refrigerant cooling are much less efficient. 1 watt of power usage = 1 watt of heat unless the power factor is messed with. compressors in a refrigerant circuit create friction and more heat to be removed.

 

[ReefArtist]

Well Gimplar if I lived with you I would think that is fair. When working my way through school I always had roomies - it was always better to be nice and work things out before they became an issue - summers right around the corner

 

[cmjreef]

I feel that a full-blown reef set-up, in general, costs around a dollar/gallon. I know that sounds like a bit of a generality, but it usually works out. My 90 costs about 100 bucks a month in electric (2 pumps, chiller, halides and PCs, calcium reactor, heater, etc.)