Metal Halide electric bill?

[bronck83]

I am currently building a 75 gallon tank than with the following:

35 gallon capacity sump with fuge
Euroreef RS100 protein skimmer
unk return pump
2-Koralia 4's
250x2 DE Metal Halide pendants with 12k bulbs

I plan to run the lights 8 hrs per day roughly, any rough guess as to how much of an electricity bill increase I will have? This will be in a relatively new 2 year old apartment with a 13 sear A/C unit.

[tony]

when i fired up my single 250w i had no noticeable change in my electric bill

give this calculator a shot: http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

it says at 10 hours/day mine costs $9 and id say that sounds about right

[Bill S]

My wife says our big tank added $100 a month to our electric bill...

500w x 8 hours x 30 days = 120kwh take that times your rate from CPS.

[BIGBIRD123]

I have three tanks running with 5 -250w DE's running 10 hrs and it costs me about $55 but my pumps are what really costs me. I'm running three Mag 3, a Mag5, two Mag 12s and two Mag 18s.

Steve

[BIGBIRD123]

My wife says our big tank added $100 a month to our electric bill...

500w x 8 hours x 30 days = 120kwh take that times your rate from CPS.

It's them Dadgum 400watters! LOL!

S

[bronck83]

I have no idea what the KHW rate is for San Antonio.

edit: Found it, it's saying about $25 a month according to that calculator. Not so bad. My friend was saying like $60 or more.

[tony]

I have no idea what the KHW rate is for San Antonio.

edit: Found it, it's saying about $25 a month according to that calculator. Not so bad. My friend was saying like $60 or more.


no way, i live in an 1800 sq/ft house and my entire bill will be that low ($60) in the winter and i leave the computer running 24/7 along with the tv for background noise. $25 sounds about right

[alton]

What most calculators leave out is the Power Factor. Mag ballast after a year are only 84% efficient and can go down to 50% in 5 years. All the heat they put off is wasted energy. So in saying that 250 watts / .84 = 297.6 watts x 10 hours a day x 30 days = 89,280 / 1,000 = 89.28 KWH x 12 cents a KWH = $10.71 per month or $128.52 a year. Electronic ballast on the other hand are 99% efficient. 250w / .99 = 252.5 watts x 10 hours a day x 30 days = 75,757 / 1,000 = 75.76 KWH x 12 cents a KWH = $9.09 a month or $109.09 a year. In it's life time an electronic ballast will pay for itself in electricity savings. I have been told that some cities are up to 15 cents a KWH so the cost can be more?

[erikharrison]

I combated my tank price by swapping out all of the other bulbs with the little low watt long life bulbs. All of my regular bulbs are 60w, which I switched out with 15 watters. Those little things are so bright that I actually did not replace all of the lights because then it would look like a Griswald lived there.

[bronck83]

That KWH rate for San Antonio is $0.085

[aquasport24]

I connected mine to the next door neighbor`s , so it free. LOL

[jtrux]

dang chris with all that money you're making i figured money would be no object to you.

[TexasTodd]

Erik, what 15w lights are you talking about?

When I had my 300 gal system---with LOTS of lights, 1hp chiller, and big pumps; it boosted about $200 a month.

Todd

[alton]

CPS raises there Sir charges in the summer months that increase my bill by 30%. If you set up your tanks around then you could be blaming your tank when it is actually the famous "Sir Charge's".

[erikharrison]

They sell them at any store. They are compact flourescents, I assume. They are the twisted style bulbs like the one on this page: http://www.bulbs.com/eSpec.aspx?ID=14662&Ref=Category&RefId=13

EDIT: LOL, no, these are NOT USED FOR CORALS. I replaced all of the other bulbs throughout the apartment with these... :)

[caferacermike]

Don't forget it's not really $0.085 cents a KWH. Many people think that way but forget the BIG picture. That should be a decpetive trade practice. Austin is guilty of it as well. They told me I was paying $0.07 a KWH. If you read the bill correctly, you'll be amazed to find an extra fee called the "line usage fee" and others such as "natural gas surcharges" Basically they charge you to deliver the electricity (which is legitimate as somebody has to pay for the poles and lines.), the other charges are for coal, lignite, natural gas etc.. that they use to generate the electricity. Most rates are really around $0.15-0.17 per KWH after you add it all up. Then as was mentioned you get "hit" in the summer for excess surcharges during peak demands. Then add in the really fun one. Most companies give you a break up to about 600-1,000KWH per month as "regular use", after that they charge you even higher rates for the remaining KWH as "excessive use or demands" So yes it varies constantly. As your bill increases depending upon the above mentioned scales, then your taxes increase as well. So don't forget your taxes kids.

Ain't reef keeping fun? So many different variables mentioned by so many different kinds of people. And to think, they are all correct to some degree.

When I moved I was offered a flat rate contract (was basically the only way they did it here) of $0.145 a KWH no matter what. That's it, then taxes and govt. fees. No delivery fees, no increases if gas prices go up, no "gluttony" taxes. No "keep it under 800KWH per month" loop holes. Still not a great deal but a lot more predictable/