How much do you think you spend on electricity?

[Charliegrs]

I know reef tanks use a fair amount of electricity, and since I dont own one yet Id like to know what other people are spending so I can get a rough idea of what Im in for. I plan on setting up a 55gal reef tank with the full sump setup (skimmer, refugium etc) so if anyone has a similar setup and can give me a rough idea of how much it adds to your electric bill Id appreciate it.

 

[Bifferwine]

That will be different for everyone, depending on the type of equipment used, hours per day stuff is on, price of electricity in your area... If you know the equipment you are planning on getting, you can do the math yourself.

Multiply the watts of each piece of equipment with the hours each piece will run each day. Multiply that by 30 days, to get the total watts used per month. Divide that by 1000 to get kilowatt hours used per month. Then take that number and multiply it by the price per kilowatt hour your electric company charges.

Here is the calculation for the lights I use over my 90 gallon tank. My lights have 6 T5 bulbs, which use 54 watts apiece.

6 x 54 watts = 324
324 x 12 hours a day = 3888 watts per day = 3.888 kilowatts per day
3.888 kilowatts x 30 days = 116.64 kilowatts per month

TEP price per kilowatt hour = 0.0801 cents
116.64 x 0.0801 = $9.34

So it costs me $9.34 to run my lights for 1 month for 12 hours a day. You can do that same calculation for your current lights, or anything in your house that uses electricty.

 

[Charliegrs]

That will be different for everyone, depending on the type of equipment used, hours per day stuff is on, price of electricity in your area... If you know the equipment you are planning on getting, you can do the math yourself.

Multiply the watts of each piece of equipment with the hours each piece will run each day. Multiply that by 30 days, to get the total watts used per month. Divide that by 1000 to get kilowatt hours used per month. Then take that number and multiply it by the price per kilowatt hour your electric company charges.

Here is the calculation for the lights I use over my 90 gallon tank. My lights have 6 T5 bulbs, which use 54 watts apiece.

6 x 54 watts = 324
324 x 12 hours a day = 3888 watts per day = 3.888 kilowatts per day
3.888 kilowatts x 30 days = 116.64 kilowatts per month

TEP price per kilowatt hour = 0.0801 cents
116.64 x 0.0801 = $9.34

So it costs me $9.34 to run my lights for 1 month for 12 hours a day. You can do that same calculation for your current lights, or anything in your house that uses electricty.

So is that just the cost to run your lights, not including everything else like pumps, skimmers etc? And really I was just looking to see what it costs people so I can get a ballpark figure, Im not looking for exact figures. Back at my old apartment I was running anywhere from $30-50 a month in the winter, (warm AZ winters as Im sure you know Biff lol) to $70-90 in the summer (running AC constantly, as Im sure you know as well lol) that was without an aquarium. When I move to my new apartment I figure my bills will probably be about the same, but when I add a tank is it realistic to think it could be doubled?

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, I don't know how much of my electric bill is due to the tank, because I haven't done that calculation for all my equipment.

I don't think it's realistic to think a tank would double your electric bill. I don't think it will be that high.

The total electric bill for my house is around $200 a month. At my previous house, it was $400 to $500 a month, but we had a much less efficient HVAC system, and worse windows and doors.

I don't think my tank contributes too much to that bill.

 

[PRC]

I run 2 (250w) and 1(400w) Metal Halide along with the cornicopia of other stuff that needs to be plugged in. Using Biff's numbers, my lights are about $25.00 per month. But that doesn't count all of the other stuff. Powerheads, lights for sump, return pumps, heaters, etc...

I know that my fish tank has a serious effect on my electric bill. Respectfully, if a $100 swing either way is going to seriously effect your budget, this is probably not the time to get into the hobby. This hobby can get expensive quickly and is quite addicting. You'll have thousands of dollars wrapped up in your tank before you know it. I just took an inventory of my tank tonight....my head started spinning.

On the other hand, if you just want to know, so that you can figure your bills, I would say if you calculated an additional $50. per month in electricity you'd be more than safe.

 

[BL1]

I doubt it will double your bill, I've got 2 tanks and my bill stays between $100 and $150. I'm not sure how much the tanks add because I just had one roommate move out but it definitely the tanks definitely don't double our bill.

 

[Charliegrs]

I run 2 (250w) and 1(400w) Metal Halide along with the cornicopia of other stuff that needs to be plugged in. Using Biff's numbers, my lights are about $25.00 per month. But that doesn't count all of the other stuff. Powerheads, lights for sump, return pumps, heaters, etc...

I know that my fish tank has a serious effect on my electric bill. Respectfully, if a $100 swing either way is going to seriously effect your budget, this is probably not the time to get into the hobby. This hobby can get expensive quickly and is quite addicting. You'll have thousands of dollars wrapped up in your tank before you know it. I just took an inventory of my tank tonight....my head started spinning.

On the other hand, if you just want to know, so that you can figure your bills, I would say if you calculated an additional $50. per month in electricity you'd be more than safe.

Oh I know this hobby can get expensive! :twocents: Im in the midst of probably the longest planning session anyone has ever been on when it comes to reef tanks. The reason being, I am not going to set up a tank until I move. Which should be a month or 2 from now and in the mean time it gives me plenty of time to figure out how Im going to set up my tank, what the costs will be for various things etc. But no, a 100 dollar swing I can handle. I just had no idea what kind of impact a reef tank has on the bill, if someone had told me they set up something like a 55gal and it added 200 to their bill, well I would probably have to rethink getting into this hobby lol.

 

[Piratefish]

Ive got a 55g at my shop. My bill before the tank was between $25-$27 dollars a month now it is $69. a month. I have two pumps, two power heads in the tank, 6X54 watt lite with fans and a algae scrubber with 4x24 watt bulbs and one 150 watt heater and I use fans in the summer. Welcome to Califorina.