Electrical use is the most expensive thing in our hobby, with 1000 watts of metal halide lighting, 2 return pumps, large skimmer pumps, 40 watts of UV, 300 watt heaters, and 1 hp chillers our electrical bill can run over $1,000 a year!
Hopefully I did not scare anyone with those numbers? What we need to look at is not only lighting but pumps that run 24hours a day and 365 days a year. Take my return pump on my 65 gallon, it is an older mag 7 that list 75 watts, but after age and pumping water up around 4’ the actual draw is 144 watts. I replaced it with a Rio 2500 that says 55 watts but draws 84 watts. Now just looking at the difference it may not seem that big but after 60 watts running 24/365 = 60 x 24 x 365 = 525,600 watts in a year! So take the 525,600 divide by 1,000 to get 1KWH = 525.6 KWH’s @$.10 a KWH = $52.56 a year savings so the pump is free after a year and a half of service!
Who says nothing is free anymore?
And don’t worry spouses do not look at MAAST anyway, or at least mine doesn’t.