What are your electrical costs for running your Reef System???

[danthemanj]

I had some free time yesterday so I decided to calculate the electrical consumption and electrical cost for my 350 Gallon Reef System per day / month / year and came up with some eye opening results.

ELECTRICAL DEVICE WATTS USED HOURS/DAY KILOWATT HOURS COST / DAY COST / MONTH

MAIN LIGHTING - MH1 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
MAIN LIGHTING - MH2 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
MAIN LIGHTING - MH3 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
SUMP LIGHTING 400 6 2.4 $0.37 $11.23
MOON LIGHTS 25 24 0.6 $0.09 $2.81
DISPLAY CIRC PUMP 350 24 8.4 $1.31 $39.31
SUMP CIRC PUMP 350 24 8.4 $1.31 $39.31
SKIMMER PUMP 150 24 3.6 $0.56 $16.85
CALCIUM REACTOR PUMP 28 24 0.672 $0.10 $3.14
CO2 SOLENOID 15 24 0.36 $0.06 $1.68
AUTO TOPOFF ADAPTERS / RELAYS 45 24 1.08 $0.17 $5.05
SUMP CIRCULATION FAN 55 24 1.32 $0.21 $6.18
FANTECH CENTRIFUGAL SUMP EXHAUST FAN 70 24 1.68 $0.26 $7.86
DISPLAY CIRCULATION FAN 35 6.5 0.2275 $0.04 $1.06
DISPLAY EXHAUST FAN 80 8 0.64 $0.10 $3.00
RANCO CONTROLLER 30 24 0.72 $0.11 $3.37
CHILLER / HEATER IN WINTER (500w @ 6 hrs) 1056 3 3.168 $0.49 $14.83
MISC. 100 24 2.4 $0.37 $11.23


PSEG COST / KILOWATT HOUR = 0.156

TOTAL ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / DAY (KWh) 40.1675
$6.27
TOTAL ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / MONTH (KWh) 1205.025

TOTAL COST OF ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / MONTH $187.98 $187.98

TOTAL COST OF ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / YEAR $2,299.04 $2,299.04


And for those of us that are trying to think green, my electrical consumption produces 22506 lbs. of C02 per year which is the equivalent to planting 33 trees every year

 

[magic]

Dan

You have too much free time! No honey do list, want mine.

Bob

 

[danthemanj]

Actually this was 'ON' the Honey Do List but I'll pretend I haven't done it yet ....

 

[momof6kids]

Dan

You have too much free time! No honey do list, want mine.

Bob

I thought the same thing. Come on, Dan. Help me set up my new tank since you have so much free time. ;D

Actually this was 'ON' the Honey Do List but I'll pretend I haven't done it yet ....

OOhhhh. I don't think you want to show her this one.

 

[ricwilli]

Wow..... It looks like I will have to re-think my close loop plans. I have the same pump as you do and I'm not willing to pay that much a month. I am kind of surprised on the MH. I can live with that. It looks like I will be looking into Koralias, Tunze or something else.

 

[blange3]

Thanks for posting this AFTER I bought the 180. :

I've been wrestling with this issue myself. It's a contributing factor to my RetroReefing style. ( Kind of catchy phrase, huh? I've been thinking of changing my screen name to RetroReefer )


With the VHO's I have not needed to run fans or a chiller. I run the tank temp at 77 and generally save on heating. I keep mostly low to moderate flow corals so the 75 has been running with only a Mag7 and two MJ1200's. Pumps seem to be the killer.

Since I'm planning on plumbing to a sump in the basemnet, I'll need to beef up the pump. I'm looking to get 500-700 gallons an hour at about 14 feet of head loss. I'll get most of the flow from maxihets or korallias.

This did convince me that I AM going down to 2 tanks!

 

[Rbu1]

Hi Dan,

You should be thankful your are in PSE&G territory. My electric company charges alot more per kilowatt......

 

[DaveK]

I think some of the estimates in the original post are a little high, but it does go to show how much we do spend on the hobby. It does go to show that you can't really do a reef on a low budget.

Btw, you'd only have to plant all the trees the first year. After that the existing trees would take care of the carbon problem.

 

[saltwater4life]

Oh great if my parents find out my fish tank cost this much a month to run...

 

[mynd]

$9.57

lol

 

[MikeNapoli]

Dan you should start a web service for reefers...

They tell you the zipcode they live in and the equipment they're using and you tell them the cost per month/year.

I'd pay $10 to find mine out.

 

[pitogo]

Mine is in the un-ecofriendly neighborhood of $60-80 depending on temp outside. My pre-tank electric bills were in the $45 range before that. I switched everything to energy saver except the fishtank...

 

[malulu]

Dan,

I was bored, formatted for you...



ELECTRICAL DEVICE WATTS USED HOURS/DAY KILOWATT HOURS COST / DAYCOST / MONTH

MAIN LIGHTING - MH1 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
MAIN LIGHTING - MH2 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
MAIN LIGHTING - MH3 250 6 1.5 $0.23 $7.02
SUMP LIGHTING 400 6 2.4 $0.37 $11.23
MOON LIGHTS 25 24 0.6 $0.09 $2.81
DISPLAY CIRC PUMP 350 24 8.4 $1.31 $39.31
SUMP CIRC PUMP 350 24 8.4 $1.31 $39.31
SKIMMER PUMP 150 24 3.6 $0.56 $16.85
CALCIUM REACTOR PUMP 28 24 0.672 $0.10 $3.14
CO2 SOLENOID 15 24 0.36 $0.06 $1.68
AUTO TOPOFF ADAPTERS / RELAYS 45 24 1.08 $0.17 $5.05
SUMP CIRCULATION FAN 55 24 1.32 $0.21 $6.18
FANTECH CENTRIFUGAL SUMP EXHAUST FAN 70 24 1.68 $0.26 $7.86
DISPLAY CIRCULATION FAN 35 6.5 0.2275 $0.04 $1.06
DISPLAY EXHAUST FAN 80 8 0.64 $0.10 $3.00
RANCO CONTROLLER 30 24 0.72 $0.11 $3.37
CHILLER / HEATER IN WINTER (500w @ 6 hrs) 1056 3 3.168 $0.49 $14.83
MISC. 100 24 2.4 $0.37 $11.23



PSEG COST / KILOWATT HOUR = 0.156

TOTAL ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / DAY (KWh) 40.1675
$6.27
TOTAL ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / MONTH (KWh) 1205.025

TOTAL COST OF ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / MONTH $187.98 $187.98

TOTAL COST OF ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION / YEAR $2,299.04 $2,299.04


And for those of us that are trying to think green, my electrical consumption produces 22506 lbs. of C02 per year which is the equivalent to planting 33 trees every year
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[danthemanj]

David,

Thanks for the reformatting ;D The electrical consumption I have in the list are the wattage ratings of each electrical appliance. The only 99.9% accurate way of finding out actual usage would be to use a watt meter on each appliance and see the actual draw. I wanted to post the spreadsheet I used for the calculations in the posting but .xls files are not allowed. I'm sure there would be a bunch of folks that would like to know what their electrical costs are. I was thinking of expanding on the eletrical costs and adding other maintenance items such as:

Water, Replacement Bulbs, Carbon, Ca Reactor Media, Phosban, Filter Media, Salt, Additives, Probes, Plumbing, Gloves, RO filters, DI Cartridges, etc.

but decided not to go there .........

 

[malulu]

i don't like you to put such advance calculator out there...


cause the end results would only discourage people to continue on this hobby...
:

that is why i stop tracking my expense long long time ago... cause every time i think of it, it always give me a big headache...
;D

 

[harryk]

It will only get worse for us. I heard on the radio today that the NJ BPU gave approval to the utility companies to raise rates in the range of 10-30%. lucky us

Harry

 

[jimroth]

The trick is to just keep the bill the same each month so your spouse doesn't notice. While my tank has been offline, I've been secretly running a 1000W heater off in the woods.

Honestly, what if you guys had a REALLY expensive hobby, like flying or owning a wooden sailboat?

 

[Phyl]

LMAO! That's too funny. I talked to someone the other day who asked if keeping SW was an expensive hobby. I said that all depended on what you compared it to. Airplanes are certainly case in point! Even a gas powered boat today is a huge expense to take out and run.

 

[harryk]

LMAO! That's too funny. I talked to someone the other day who asked if keeping SW was an expensive hobby. I said that all depended on what you compared it to. Airplanes are certainly case in point! Even a gas powered boat today is a huge expense to take out and run.

I completely agree, i think it's all relative in the end. what is expensive to one person might not be a big deal to another.

 

[danthemanj]

Well in that case, my bills should be completely blown out of the air / water since I also fly, sail and dive.