lights power consumption
 

Well, the power bill just arrived again. I can't believe how much it keeps going up. I figure my new reef tank is using over $60 / month :eek: most of which must be for the lighting. This is about $20 more than I figured as a maximum when I set it up. I'm trying to figure out just how much I need to run the lighting to be ok. Currently I'm running two 96w PCs for 12 hours and two 250w MHs for 11. I'm wondering if I can drop them down to 11 for the PCs and 9 for the MHs. Will this be a long enough photo period for the corals? Alternatively :idea: , do I need to have the PCs on with the MHs at all, or can they be shut down once the MHs come on so they just provide a sunrise/sunset period? I am using one actinic and one 6500k bulb in them, the MHs are 10000k bulbs.

All I have so far for corals are:

montipora digitata
green furry mushroom
green star polyp
kenya tree
zoanthids


I'm open to suggestions and reccomendations. Of course when my wife sees this months bill :evil: , she'll kill me and the whole thing will become irrelavant.

I have a frind who is running 2 55 watt pc's over a 28 inch tall tank he has a sebea anenome at the bottom and has quit feeding it has grown so big. You really dont need much light. about 5 watts per gallon. that is what he and i are running i have corals, mushrooms and GSP's and he has anenomes. Cut back to say 1 250 watt halide or 2 150 watt halide this will help also.

Are you running the PC's for the sunrise/sunset effect? If so, that is not absolutely essential, so you could remove the PC's. If the PC are for actinic supplementation, you can always just switch to higher K bulbs. Growth may be slower though but you will save on electricity costs. That's what I did. I was running a 250W and 2x65W PC for sunrise/sunset/actinic but wanted to save some on energy consumption, so I removed my PC's. I noticed no difference in behavior in any of the corals or fish or anenome once I stopped using them.

DOO-E,.... Go back and read his post again. He has in total about 155g's in his reef and about 5 watts per gallon as it is.
You should try doing the math....

Sorry Ed, for the post highjack.

Just a tid bit of info for you. A 400W halide on average cost about $.30 a day to run. So that's about $0.025 an hour. So lets say 3 cents an hour to run.

Cut back your photo period an hour a day and you save $0.90 a month. Peanuts :lol: Don't forget this is a 400w halide we are talking about. This ammount can vary a bit of course but not too much from the figures I posted.

So instead of paying $9.00 a month per halide to run you pay $8.10.
Again 400w don't forget. If it makes you feel any better my bill runs about $250 a month and half is for the tank :evil: :rolleyes:

:eek: :eek:

I though I had it bad with my $56/mo power bill....

Was looking at my gas and electric bills a few days back. It's something, the proportion of true energy cost (kW/hr , GJ) compared with the rest of the bill (taxes, delivery etc.).

this is why Im lighting my big tanks with LED's.... :mrgreen:

Lights are probably a culprit but they're not the only one that contribute to a power bill sticker shock. Your choice in pumps can make a huge difference. Powerheads and Tunze's are peanuts to run, but something like a Little Giant or two can add up. Heaven help you if you run a hot tub pump.

I don't know what to say. Unfortunately it's not a cheap hobby. If it's any consolation, we all have spouses who get irritated by the power bills. :lol: Just ask mine. One piece of advice: be prepared to run when the expletives start.

I'm with Jonathan, if my bill comes in at <$230, I go out to dinner to celebrate. And buy a biiiiig steak or something. :razz:

What about that 400g surge over that swimming pool reef of yours? Come on, if you're going to dump 400g on the order of once per minute, putting a couple LED's over your tank is gonna be cool, but nothing more than a novelty as far as your power bill is concerned. Or do you have plans on putting your own mini-hydro-dam in those ponds in that yard of yours? :razz: