What is your Electric Bill?

[scubadubado]

I've been keeping a reef aquarium ever since I moved into the current house, about three years ago. The electric bill has always been very high ($450/month on average), but I've never known how much was because of the aquarium, and how much was because of the house being the largest one I've ever owned.

The tank is a 125, with three 250 MH plus actinics, and has the usual sump, refugium with separate fluorescent light, heater and 4 powerheads for wagter motion.

So my question to the board: how much is your electric bill, and have you got any sense of how much of that amount is directly attributable to the tank?

 

[drnecropolis]

Avg of 450?? Jeez the most mine has ever been was like 350 and I freaked out... Stays about 180 a month or so

 

[johnr2604]

DrNecropolis;277648 wrote: Avg of 450?? Jeez the most mine has ever been was like 350 and I freaked out... Stays about 180 a month or so

Yep, same here and I keep the house at a 70 deg.

 

[jeep9783]

This month was the highest for me 220...but partly because of my gecko room not the salt tank as i used the most effecient of pumps (least amount of wattage) and am running t5s on my tanks...the geckos i beleave are the source of the bill i beleave

 

[mapleredta]

450? Id have a duck.

 

[weaglereefer]

I keep my house at 80 in the summer and keep the heat up to 67-68 in the winter (I prefer it cool, just can't afford it in the summer). My bills vary from $110 in the fall/winter to as high as $380 in the summer.

I'm sure running the 50" TV and surround sound 10+ hours a day doesn't help either. I have all CFL bulbs, or florescents, no incandescents.

 

[johnr2604]

I used to have really high power bills till I forked out for a high efficiency air conditioner. Its already payed for itself

 

[FutureInterest]

We average 250 a month a year. It was about a 100 less or so a month before the tank .

 

[kirru]

Have you tried using ReefCentral's wattage calculator?

http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php">http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php</a>

I'm not sure how much ours is but I'm curious to know as well, but I have a small less demanding tank.

My dad would freak if he knew $450 was the bill with my tank running like that.

 

[notireef]

wow....mine usually stayed about $100-$110/month now with the tank its about $130-$140/month...not bad. The house is at 70-72 degrees year round and well insulated.

 

[flyingarmy]

What's the current national debt? That should be about right!

 

[seedless reefer]

HAHAHAHAHA 450 what a NOOB you don't know real mans pain until you are in the 5 and 6 hundreds with reconnection fees!

NEXT!

 

[FutureInterest]

lol. As always you crack me up :lol2: .

 

[seedless reefer]

I know right!

PWNT

 

[sj miller guy]

We average about $100 in the winter months and up to about $220-250 during the summer keeping the thermostat set at 77.

High yes, but our house is only about 1500 sq. ft. and 4 years old.

 

[rededge2k1]

It's fairly simple to figure out exactly what your tank costs in electricity each month. Just total up all of the watts in your system multiplied by the number of hours per month each item runs. Divide the total wattage by 1000 to get kilowatt hours, then multiply by the cost per kilowatt hour. The current cost per kwH should be on your electric bill.

For example, a 250w halide:

250w * 8hrs/day * 30 days = 60,000 watt hrs per month

60,000 / 1000 = 60 kwH per month

(assuming $0.07 per kwH)

6,000 * $0.07 = $4.20 per month for 1 bulb

 

[ksauerb322]

$120.00-$180.00, house stays around 71-72 year round, was about 95.00 before the reef bug kicked in.

 

[schwaggs]

Lowest mine gets is about $200 about this time of year so I estimate my tank is about 1/2 of that. We don't want to talk about the summer bills, we are still in therapy over the bills from the summer before last.