Just threw up in my mouth a little bit... the electricity bill came

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by i have crabs

a while back i bought a power meter from costco kinda like a kill-a-watt meter and i found other than the lights heaters where my biggest problem with 4or5 tanks usually running i had about 1000w of heaters which were costing me between $1-2 per day my 8 bulb tek light which is around 400w was costing me about $0.75 per day other things where seio powerheads and some things around the house, with all my tanks i average about $250 a month, usually one is a bit lower for the estimate and 1 is a bit higher and i calculate power at $0.11
some things actually use alot less power than they say or i would expect so that was a nice change,mh lights on the other hand use up to 20% more than they say so 750w of halides is probably over 1000w and costing you up to $2 per day

also about the heaters, i found it much cheeper to run my heat up all day and night then to have the heaters sucking up power

i think anyone with a bigger reef or multiple tanks should buy a meter, i got mine from costco online for $35 and ive seen canadian tire selling them in the flyers for about the same, kill-a-watt meters are about $50 but i think they have some better functions

The reasons Lights use MORE power than the rating, is the Bulb Wattage is what the BULB uses. The ballast also consumes some energy in producing the Bulb wattage. Old TAR ballasts ya can be up to 25% ineffiecent. Electronics are way better