MH Qs and cost??

[spreerider]

i have a 175W MH and 250W MH for my orchids and together they only cost me a few bucks a month, its easy to calculate the cost per month,
(watts / by 1000) X Hours/month XHydro Rate in KWH,
for me its
(425 \ 1000) X (10X30) X (.065) = 8.28 per month

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I have 2 400watt MH over my tank and the cost is not too bad. I have never worked it out but I think it must be about $40-50 a month for the lights.

Heat is not an issue either with a fan blowing down and across the water surface in front of the lights. And my place gets HOT in the summer.

[spreerider]

800W / 1000 X (12 X 30) X .07 = 20.17 per month, if your lights are on 12 hrs a day and you pay $.07 per kwh

800W / 1000 X 10 X 30 X .07 = 16.8 per month

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by spreerider

800W / 1000 X (12 X 30) X .07 = 20.17 per month, if your lights are on 12 hrs a day and you pay $.07 per kwh

800W / 1000 X 10 X 30 X .07 = 16.8 per month

They are only on 9 hours and the actinics are 12. So even less than $16 a month. Nice.

LOL...Ok well I was off by just a little. Actually that makes more sense though. Since switching from 250's to 400's, my bill has only gone up about $8 a month at the most.

Thanks, its nice to know I am not paying $40 a month for the lights...Im not really sure where I got that number from. I think I just kind of assumed they were a big chunk of my monthly bill

[fkshiu]

You should get a watt meter of some sort to verify what your equipment actually draws. HQI and magnetic ballasts can draw a lot more than what they are rated as. Only electronic ballasts draw what they say they draw.

[Slick Fork]

Everything is relative though, I've been doing some figuring today so I have these numbers stuck in my head, with everything turned on (2 magnetic MH ballasts drawing ~340 each, 400 watt heater, skimmer, return, powerheads, etc.) my 110gallon display+40ish gallon sump draws about 1250 to 1300 watts. My coffee pot alone lists it's draw at 1200 watts so you've gotta keep it all in perspective.

If I had to start fresh, I maybe would've gone with an Electronic ballast, but at this point the energy savings aren't worth the cost to swap out perfectly good magnetics. I have 250 watt DE's and I love them.