Electric bill and Mother In Law??

[chip721]

I'd ask to see 3 previous months bills - just for comparison sake. At least it would give you an idea of what the house usage was before you fired up 500w of MH. And then, there's a rate increase that should be factored in as well. I went from T5's to MH and our kilowatt usage jumped a little too. I cut back on the photo period a couple hours. But I have a fixed rate electrical bill that's based on a 12 month average. You might want to see if that's available in your area. Winter or summer I never really get any big surprises. Even if you calculated the wattage of every electrical device in the home; I don't think this is a battle you're going to win. IMO, peace in the home is INVALUABLE. If you want your home to be as peaceful as your reef, pony up the xtra dollars and remain the great guy your mother-in-law tells everyone you are

 

[javajaws]

BTW, I just started up this thread about how to save electricity on reef tanks. Feel free to add some tips:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=758446

 

[PRC]

Wow, 18' to the sump! I guess you're not using that Mag9.5 for your return pump since they list the shutoff head as ~13.5' I think. What are you using for a return pump? If you're using the Mag as a closed loop or a powerhead just replace it with a Seio 820 or 1100 and that'll save you a few bucks right there.
As far as the icecaps go, they'll actually pull more power than the standard electronic ballasts with the T5's (I think it's ~80W instead of 54W), but they also put out more light. Four T5s might be pushing the lower limits for that tank so the extra output from overdriving them probably wouldn't hurt. Bear in mind that four bulbs at 80W will probably give you similar light output to five or six at 54W.

 

[Sindjin]

Sindjin- If I could ask wat was your bill before the tank

Usually about 150.00 but with the fuel hike it was about 180.00.

I think if fuel costs were "normal" I'd be about 220.00