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Electric bill

L

Lord Viper

ok I just recieved my electric bill for the month of march it is 650. and I don't even have my tank up and running yet. What kind of increase can i figure on with a 265 gallon display with a 150 gallon sump and metal halides. Not looking forward to an 800. a month bill.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Pray that you can keep the summer months under 4 digits.
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Yeah, those summer months are killers and we don't have a pool or anything. Depending on how hard the AC is working it can tack on extra 300 bucks to our bill.
 
S

steve68

u can lower ur lighting cycle in the summer & alternate the MH i have my center come on for 4 hours before the other 2 come on then the center goes off & the tank still get's light i drop my MH lighting to 6 hours in the summer. also the kw go up in the summer wich sucks i go from 12cent a kw to 22cent a kw that keeps me around 600 a month at 22 cent a kw & oh yeah i prey too :)
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've been real close but haven't gone over yet. I don't think the tanks add as much as everything thinks. I turned off all the breakers except for the tank for two hours with everything on it worked out to $75 +/- month.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

actually - if you think about it - with an electronic ballast and halides on a timer - it doesn't add up to the pumps that are on 24x7 - depending on how many pumps you have and how energy efficient the pumps are (both for the return, the reactors, the phs and the skimmer).
 
R

reefitup

JohnS_323 said:
That's exactly how I felt the first time I saw a COMMA in our monthly bill!
Click to expand...

They can put a comma on those things? Geesh...

I'd have to say, although I have 2 small tanks, my kids probably waste more electric than even a larger tank. What's the point of staring at an open fridge for like 4 minutes anyway. It's the same stuff that was in there 20 minutes before...and if you don't keep it closed, there won't be anything new for a while! ;D

ok I just recieved my electric bill for the month of march it is 650. and I don't even have my tank up and running yet. What kind of increase can i figure on with a 265 gallon display with a 150 gallon sump and metal halides. Not looking forward to an 800. a month bill.
Click to expand...

Yikes. Any idea why it's so high, or is it always like that? In the summer, we've learned it's better to get the AC running early in the morning and it be a little chilly during the morning hours, than to wait till late morning to kick it on. Saved a little doing it that way. AC doesn't have to run as hard to 'catch up' Of course, my wife hates to be cold (yeah, she's from VT) and 65° is too cold for her, where as it's Tank top and shorts for me ::)
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
Wow. Our last bill was ~$180 for the month. That includes 3 computers running 24/7, the tank with 900 GPH, MJ1200 and 175 MH running 10 hrs a day, plasma tv and stereo and then all the normal stuff like fridge, extra freezer, etc.

I guess it's time for you guys to start sale shopping for some CF bulbs to replace those old 100 watters, eh?

;)
 
M

momof6kids

NJRC Member
I know that we were shocked at how high our electric bill was this winter. Usually it goes down, but our bills were the same this winter as they are in the summer. We actually turned off the main breaker to see if someone was stealing from us. ::)

And then when we saw that it stopped, we turned things on one by one to find the culprit. The fish tank circuit was one, but the electric space heater in my daughter's bedroom was just as high as the tank. And it is supposed to be one of those energy efficient ones too. Right!!

And Doug and I have been talking about getting an aboveground pool. ;D

I don't know what I would do if I had a 4 digit electric bill. OUCH!
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
ours was $440 last month. that includes the 265 gallon tank and a 90 gallon- 4 660 ice caps- 440 watts each, 3 250 icecap MHs, 2 Dart sequence pumps and a Pan world. plus at least 3 or 4 400 watt heaters.
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
You guys should look into kill-a-watts. You plug them into the wall, then plug the appliances into the thing and it tells you how much it costs you in electricity. Sometimes people have extra freezers or whatever that use 2-3x more electricity than they probably should...or a newer one would.

You guys have scary electric bills. My house isn't that big, but DANG!
 
S

sinkingbeach

My entire condo is electric and I freak out when I see a $400 bill in the summer :mad: It's my wife and her air conditioner :mad: My tank has nothing to do with it ;)
 
J

jceli728

How can we calculate how much electricity our tanks are using? and then in turn calculate how much is costing us to run the tanks...
 
jimroth

jimroth

That's one reason most of my stuff is going in the garage. Well not the lights.
On the plus side, if you have electric heat, like I do, in the winter time the tank runs for "free," that is, it heats your house and reduces the need for the baseboards to kick on.
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
A lot also has to do with how well your house is insulated. We were pushing 800 in the summer during some of those heatwaves. After we had the new windows and a new door installed it dropped our bill in the summer by approx $200.

I also agree with the tank not being as much as everyone thinks it is. I was tankless for awhile and was expecting to see a big drop in my electric bill...needless to say, the drop never came.
 
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