Power usage, holy crap!

[Asagi]

Throw a couple of 400w halides on there too buddy. At least you won’t need the heater. Haha!

 

[Lylelovett]

Just some friendly advice, you should start to think about it.
There are some aquarium expenses you cannot get around but you can manage some of them and electricity is one of those items. Simple things like if your primary problem is heating the water then submerged pumps are the way to go. If your in a hot area then it's much better use to external pumps. Bottom line is that we are often spending a big chunk of money on heating or cooling and many of us could save a significant amount of money every year by using the right gear for our particular home conditions. Of course if your loaded to the hilt with cash then it does not matter except for the environmental side of things.

I make decisions to minimize usage where ever I can but I don't let it keep me up at night.

 

[Berto]

Yikes. I'll be more appreciative of my .09 per kWh.

haha us too .08!

 

[Torben]

I installed solar and optimized the consumption to the expected Solar output like Frag Tank Light schedule.
This is a 5kw system and AC and computers etc are running as the kids are on remote schooling.

 

[najer]

@MJ in Boise might say that's a bad thing, that's great though, what size system did you install for your usage?

I have a small house, 3.2 Kw was all I could fit.

 

[Kris 2020]

I used a killowatt tester to check the usage on my setup, but that was when I first got this build running. It was showing about $50 a month then (Michigan). I really should test it again and see where I’m at. a lot of equipment changes/upgrades over the years.

 

[Royweiser]

Hi there, Ive posted a few times about my current tank its a 150 Gallon SC. My wife recently brought up how much our electric bill is up, and i assumed it was related to covid and the kids and i being home all day.. Today i was doing some cabling cleanup on my tank and i decided to measure specific components to see what the power usage is. Boy was I suprised
Return Pump - 1200GPH 72W
AI Prime Fuge light - 24W
3x AI Prime 16HD tank lights - 84W total
Aqua Ultravoilet Light - 18.4
pair of hydor koralia wave makers - 4W
Bubble Magus Protein Skimmer (c8 i think) - 22W
Transfer pump for UV Light 4000lph - 31W
mini PC for my Seneye (dell mini) - 27W
Heater - 400W
Pair of Jabeo wavemakers - 10-11W each

In total im using around 304W for 12 hours per day
at night when my lights go off im down to 220
this works out to 6.3 KWH per day not including my heater going on and off.

or about 77.34$ per month at californias "reasonable" electric rates. again without my 400w heater even turning on.

yuck

Understood, I have a 480 g tank and put in solar panels to help defer some of the energy costs my tank was generating.

 

[Mical]

This is what I get from the electric company. I think they are trying to guilt me into using less electricity. Over 20 years of receiving these reports hasn’t changed my habits yet. Maybe next month I’ll get better about using less....

You neglect to mention that you have one tank that's like "trying heat Lake Superior". Power Co is just jealous of your tank.

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

I'm at about 20kWh/day on my 150 gallon, or @ $0.13/kWh about $75/month for my tanks electric bill. Add in other costs of having a tank such as additives, salt mix, RODI filters/resin, food...etc and i'm at a total of about $175/month just to maintain my tank. Kinda hurts to really add up the numbers. It is pretty though

It is a hobby, which any hobby will cost money. It's fairly easy to spend $175+/month on just about any hobby when you think about it. I just choose reefing as my hobby and don't have any other hobbies that eat up any applicable money.

The trick is to find a way to offset the costs. For me, I've been in the hobby for a while now, and have gotten to the point that I can continually frag my coral and either sell them, or trade them for other reefing stuff I need. I am able to break even at this point with my tank (what other hobbies can pay for themselves?) and still be able to trade for new coral or equipment from time to time without spending much "real" money.

Other than electricity, I closely track any money that I put into my tanks, and money I get from frags. I use this real data with my wife to prove that I did in fact slowly accumulate some net profit and can use that to justify buying a new light, or return pump or whatever from time to time. I've also used some frag money to get take out for dinner, or pay for my son's birthday present, or whatever as well when I'm able. It's not much, but it's a labor of love to care for the tank and I'm just happy that I don't see it as a money pit now that I have proof it isn't.

 

[FishDoc]

currently i pay .41 per kwh. the issue is california, not the USA

we have something called tiered pricing. my wife and i have 4 kids, so were always in tier 3

This is a big reason I’ll never live in California, my koi pond would bankrupt me. Plus it’s basically always on fire...

 

[deadhead_45yrs]

Rant On -
For those of you talking about installation of residential solar systems.. all need to be aware that there is a move by more and more utilities to end their support for net metering agreements. They are doing anything possible at this time to prevent any new residential installs. If they can't prevent the agreements they are proposing a "Time of Use" rate structures that will make the payback time for new systems double what they were with net metering at a constant day/night rate... Sorry for the rant but I am currently in the middle of this with the local electric Coop.

 

[Crotalus]

currently i pay .41 per kwh. the issue is california, not the USA

we have something called tiered pricing. my wife and i have 4 kids, so were always in tier 3

Wow, no wonder. You pay more than twice what I pay in Texas. Must be all that free energy from Windmills and solar.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Dad from the 1960s: “Turn off the light in that room— You’re not even IN there!!”

Dad from the 2020s: Turn off that protein skimmer— You’re not even IN there!!”

 

[Crotalus]

I don't understand the logic of using $4000 Powerwalls to store $2 of electricity.

 

[AquaDaddy]

This is what I get from the electric company. I think they are trying to guilt me into using less electricity. Over 20 years of receiving these reports hasn’t changed my habits yet. Maybe next month I’ll get better about using less....

We get the exact same thing! Our hot tub and my wood shop probably doesn't help either! Glad I'm not the only one!

 

[sam2110]

AC and DC wattage should be very similar. Power is conserved, voltage and Ampacity are not. Depending on the power factor, 90W DC will generally translate to 95W to 105W on your AC.

Yeah but when you factor in the difference across 10 items it starts adding up and if your electricity cost is ridiculously high you will notice the difference.

 

[doughboy]

I designed my current 50gallon tank to be as energy efficient as possible. At peak usage with light at max (not counting 300w heater), it’s under 100w. I monitor the power usage using a smart plug (it’s accurate and matched kill-a-watt reading) and my average monthly usage is approximately 75kwh. During winter, it averages 3.8kwh per day and 1.8kwh per day in summer. With California rate of $0.31 per kWh, I’m just paying about $1 per day On average.

 

[Daddy-o]

I'm at about 20kWh/day on my 150 gallon, or @ $0.13/kWh about $75/month for my tanks electric bill. Add in other costs of having a tank such as additives, salt mix, RODI filters/resin, food...etc and i'm at a total of about $175/month just to maintain my tank. Kinda hurts to really add up the numbers. It is pretty though

It is a hobby, which any hobby will cost money. It's fairly easy to spend $175+/month on just about any hobby when you think about it. I just choose reefing as my hobby and don't have any other hobbies that eat up any applicable money.

The trick is to find a way to offset the costs. For me, I've been in the hobby for a while now, and have gotten to the point that I can continually frag my coral and either sell them, or trade them for other reefing stuff I need. I am able to break even at this point with my tank (what other hobbies can pay for themselves?) and still be able to trade for new coral or equipment from time to time without spending much "real" money.

Other than electricity, I closely track any money that I put into my tanks, and money I get from frags. I use this real data with my wife to prove that I did in fact slowly accumulate some net profit and can use that to justify buying a new light, or return pump or whatever from time to time. I've also used some frag money to get take out for dinner, or pay for my son's birthday present, or whatever as well when I'm able. It's not much, but it's a labor of love to care for the tank and I'm just happy that I don't see it as a money pit now that I have proof it isn't.

Yea we sell a little coral to offset costs. Always make sure to throw a little green my wifes way.
Cheers! Mark

 

[fcmatt]

Interesting post.

Kinda sad high end led lighting uses just as much elect as t5 for some people. Even with bulb costs for t5 and stretching those bulbs you don't really save a ton unless your led magically run and don't break for 10 years.

 

[Techno10]

I’m paying .0525/kw here in Texas, have a 120g reef tank plus 2 other tanks that feed off of it , 3,000 ft house $160 bill for the extremely hot month of August.