Electric bill

[aznlmpulse]

Anyone living in NYC using metal halides?....I'd go ask on manhattan reefs, but I'm.....That Lazy...hahaha..

I'm in the process of setting my 34gal with 232 watts of lighting (MH+T5's), and I'm curious/scared to see the bill. I use the AC for about 1hr a day, and my bill jumped $30/month. Not sure what the rating on it is as it is built into my apartment. On top of the lights, I'd be running 2 pumps and a skimmer.

 

[KAiNE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10140173#post10140173 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
Yours could be that low too. You just have to call your power company and get the time of day meter.

To my knowledge that isnt an option here. You are in Indiana, your power company is share-holder owned (private), mine is not. My boss is from Indy and his biggest gripe about moving here was the power and water companies being city owned.

One would think since this is TN and our rivers supply a huge portion of the eastern US's power that we would have better rates, like people in Alaska getting a check for the states oil revenues....

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10140182#post10140182 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aznlmpulse
Anyone living in NYC using metal halides?....I'd go ask on manhattan reefs, but I'm.....That Lazy...hahaha..

I'm in the process of setting my 34gal with 232 watts of lighting (MH+T5's), and I'm curious/scared to see the bill. I use the AC for about 1hr a day, and my bill jumped $30/month. Not sure what the rating on it is as it is built into my apartment. On top of the lights, I'd be running 2 pumps and a skimmer.

RC has an electrical cost calculator here:

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

That may help in figuring cost. I say YIKES, though, to turning on the AC for an hour/day and having the bill jump $30. Adding the heat from the lights + pumps may have a huge negative impact on your bill...

 

[aznlmpulse]

Thanks for the link crumbletop. The cost in NYC is .21/KWH...so according to that calculator, it should only go up about $20 or so....which seems really low to me. but I guess I'll find out soon enough.

 

[KAiNE]

Few things i have found...

VHO lighting seems really efficient. I have 4x160w and it only uses 450w rather than 640w.
MH Lighting is not as efficient as what i would have expected, 3x250w uses 807w (considering the lumen output, it is pretty efficient)
Reef's skimmer pump is pulling 109w
Reefs main pumps are using 300w, @24/7 thats about $16 a month
My FOWLR tank is costing me right at $14 a month (measured over a 24hr period).

Total power costs for all my tanks and equipment looks like about $58 a month. Less than i expected.

My home A/C is an issue. The compressor sustains a 25a draw and it runs almost all the time. The A/C in the garage runs all the time and draws about 10a.
I also found that voltage is much lower than it was the last I checked. I get 117v whereas in the past and my experiences as an electrician I remember 123v-124v as normal for the area.
I checked voltage here at work today and its 118v... did NES reduce voltage recently?

 

[Freed]

My A/C only runs minimally during the day and that is when it is set at 76'. At night is when it runs alot cheaper than during the day, and runs just about non stop. Gotta love time of day meters. All lights are on at night.

 

[KAiNE]

I have adjusted my lighting so that it turns off earlier in the day but am worried about going to a fully reverse cycle because the room gets a ton of ambient light. I also lowered my tank temp so the heaters wont come on as much.

How much ambient light do your tanks get during night cycle?

 

[Freed]

No direct light but still some ambient though. The window closest to the tank has no blinds so some light comes in.

 

[VikeBron]

My electric bill runs about $300 a month in the winter and $350 in the summer. Central air going in the summer but we have pretty mild summers in CO compared to you in TN.
My lights are the following.
4- 400w MH on main tank
2- 400w MH on 6x3 prop tank
2- 400w MH on 4x3 prop tank
2- 250w MH on 90 gal frag tank
8- 54w T5 on main tank
2- 54w T5 on LPS prop tank
1- 4ft PC on 80 gal Zoa tank
3- Hammerheads
1- Dart
Other Tunze and Seio pumps

Wow, after I wrote this all down, I feel pretty lucky my bill is not $500 a month