Electricity Cost per Tank?? !!

[criecken]

After the ridiculous electric bills I have seen for the last 14 months (Maricopa rates are horrible) and after reading the recent post of going solar, I went out today and bought "kill o meter" tester from Home Depot.
It is a device that you can plug something into, you input the cost per kwh from your last electric bill, then give it some time and it will tell you what the item is costing per hour/day/week/month, etc. I had to confirm what was going on considering my Dec bill was $380, and Nov was just alittle less.
Also 3 years ago (before the MULTIPLE rate increases) my normal Dec bill was less than 200.

So I tested both my tanks. I tested items running 24/7 separatly from things like lights that only run 8 - 10 hours per day.
The average cost per kwh in Maricopa is $0.145.

Results:
125 gal swim tank - $45 per month
120 gal reef tank - $80+ per month

So now I know (instead of assuming or denying) that both tanks are the reason my monthly bill is over $125/month EXTRA.

Not sure if I will be staying in the hobby, as this seems ridiculous to me. Nor do I think I can afford this type of cost in addition to the normal cost of a reef/swim tank... ie: salt, RODI, food, suppliments, additives.

Wondering if anyone else has tracked the amount of cost on their montly electric bill for a tank?

 

[30reef]

That's why I keep a 30g. A couple bucks a day is not really that much when you think about how many hours of enjoyment you get from it.

 

[Haddonisreef]

[flamealert]

 

[criecken]

[flamealert]

what does this mean?

 

[littletruong]

you should try and get on a plan. I live at home with my parents, but i have a 125 + 55g sump and its a full reef, and our electricity bill this month was around 100 bucks, we dont use our electricity from 12pm to 7pm. Oh and our house is almost 4000sq ft. as well

 

[criecken]

you should try and get on a plan. I live at home with my parents, but i have a 125 + 55g sump and its a full reef, and our electricity bill this month was around 100 bucks, we dont use our electricity from 12pm to 7pm. Oh and our house is almost 4000sq ft. as well

Can't really do the budget plan, since I work from home and during the summer months (when it is really bad and the bill reaches $800/month) the kids are out of school. So they are in and out all day from June thru Aug.

Both my tanks have a 55 g sump as well.
My home is 2800+ sq ft with gas heat.

I think that the rates in Maricopa are the damning factor.
I put CFL bulbs in the whole house last spring.
Really not sure what else to cut out.

May have to get out of the hobby all together, or downsize to a 55 gal tank or something around that size.

 

[arrik2001]

i know i have no real say in this conversation cause i live in an apartment,but if something is plugged in but not on its using electricity,i unplug chargers,washer/dryer/microwave,coffepot,anything not actually on and doing something important saves alot.and i also switched to cfl lighting i like it alot better.

 

[Reeefer]

Yes indeed, my first summer here with a reef tank should prove interesting. My bill already spiked $100 something just in the last month due to the reef. Ouch!

 

[dremw2]

i figured my tank runs around $100 extra per month i too work at home and my bill this month was still 300bucks summer get to about 500 something since i swithced to the rate plan and dont use the light but in the off peak hrs i found out that cut my bill down about $100-$150 a month by just using the light on the off peak hrs im really thinking of going to solor tubes for most of my lighting.

 

[jerryz]

Coming this Summer. The Green Tank

 

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

Coming this Summer. The Green Tank

Please explain!

 

[Patrick_rogn]

I am on a great plain with SRP what they did is took my average for a year and made my bill out of it so every month I have the same price no matter, I have had three tanks running and ac down to about 75 in the summer and it still only about 144.00 a month.

 

[dremw2]

i tried that green plan and it didnt work for me my bill about every 2 months would re adjust and go up and up and up till by the end of the year i ended up owing like 1200 bucks and my bills were still 300 something every month summer or winter so now im on the 12-7 plan which is on peak hrs are from 12pm-7pm and the rest are off peak so i try not to use pool pump, lights on the tank, fans whatever else from 12pm-7pm ive been doing that for about 2 years now and seems to cut a lot out of my bill everymonth my light cycle is from m-f 6am to 12pm then off till 7pm then from 7pm-11pm corals dont seem to mind and sat-sun from 8am-8pm weekends are also off peak and all holidays

 

[ScrubberOTanky]

SRP shifts the on peak hours around, in the winter it's at night and during the summer on peak is during the day.

I guess my tanks cost anywhere from $200-500 depending on the season. I have been making manifolds, and switching out high wattage pumps for newer ones. I also switched a few halide pendants to T5 retros and that helps too.

Consideing going LED on a tank or two, but the upfront cost is still prohibitive, and I'm tearing a few down to consolidate. SRP like me I know that much.

 

[criecken]

I converted my halide to T5 this past summer, trying to save.
I went with 2 IceCap 660's. 3 - 54watt bulbs per ballast being over driven.
I run the actinic's for 10 hours and the daylight for 8 hours.
That runs me about $38/month... for the T5 lights alone.

Hate to think about it, but I may have to downsize to a small tank.

 

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

If your serious about reefing, meaning you plan to stay in it long term you may look into lighting your tank with solar tubes. No paying for lights and no heat gain either.

 

[criecken]

If your serious about reefing, meaning you plan to stay in it long term you may look into lighting your tank with solar tubes. No paying for lights and no heat gain either.

I have heard mention of this ... here and there...
does anyone know someone who has done this?

 

[ScrubberOTanky]

Or if you convert to the new Ecoxotic LED fixtures, 72 watts covers a 2 foot section of tank, so for say a 4 foot tank you would need two units, and use only 144 watts total. Not sure how well growth will be as there are no numbers yet that I have seen, but its an idea anyways.... $800 for each 24" unit though...

 

[dremw2]

ive been planing on doing solor tubes for about a year now i baught one 14" tube already and need another 2 or even 3 more to light up the whole tank i just dont have the funds right now to shell out $250 a tube right now but im hoping i will before summer hits so i dont have o run MH anymore i seen a post a few years ago a guy in australia had nothing but tubes and was getting great coral growth and great color just from the sun thats where i got the idea from.

 

[littletruong]

hmm the solartubes looks very interesting.