Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[Skimmerking]

my system costs around 30 bucks a month for my full blown SPS with 3 250's i have a 150 gal too i guess it pays to live in manitoba .568 cent a kilo watt

Originally Posted by skabooya

Sorry I havent been on in a while. I ended up spending my money on bookshelves for my office $1000+ which i really needed. My knees and bum were getting sore from doing paper work on the floor and digging through piles of books and papers stacked up on average 3ft high on the floor.
Anyway I managed to save up enough money to buy some equiptment YAY! and then BOOM the electric bill comes. Did you know that there is a new residential conservation rate? It just started up Oct 1 of this year. Well you can imagine my ****yness when our electric bill went up an extra $100 because of this.
This is an incentive for people to conserve energy and to do this they are going to charge extra for power. So instead of power costing $0.06550 it is now going to cost in total $0.18 on average BUT it will depend. I quote "If you use less than 2260 kWh on a bi-monthly basis you will pay less than under the previous flat rate structure" it goes on to say "The new rate structure provides a price incentive to encourage conservation"
It says on the hydro website if you use more than 1350kWh you will pay 7.21cents/kwh until April 1 2009 at which time this price will go up to 8.21/kwh cents. But if you use less than 1350kWh then you only pay 5.95/kwh cents until April 1, 2009 when the price goes up to 6.35 cents per kwh and this is on top of the rate we are paying now which is a little over 6 cents.
BUT get this there are 2 steps to this Step one charges 0.5980/kwh and step 2 charges 0.07210/kwh so really you are getting charged 3 times. WHY? i have no idea and when i called they couldnt explain it to me either and only told me to wait until they read the meter again in november and re-bill me. I was like WTF?
So in total i am paying 18cents per kWh.
This means the tank I want to set up will now cost PER MONTH:

Heater = 100watts 24/7
Hydor K1 = 3.5watts 24/7
Hydor k2= 4.5watts 24/7
Skimmer = 10watts 24/7
Lights = ~160watts 8hrs

watts/1000 (conversion to kW) then
kW x hours x kWh cost (18 cents in my case) x 31 (days of the month)
Then you get your answer

For me its $127.38/month AND this does not include normal upkeep costs, salt, water, food, etc. This is just for electric.
Before this my 28gal would have cost me about $50/month. I feel sorry for those that have 100+ gal systems WOW!

So now what do i do. Do i still do salt water or do i switch to something else that is cheaper. *sigh* our economy sucks.

[karazy]

looking good.

for corals i would say maybe add a finger leather to your list. they always look awesome once they grow out and will make your tank look nice and mature. plus they grow quickly too.

[skabooya]

yes if i got a leather I would want a green polyp devils hand.
Things have started to get back to normal, somewhat.
My father in law finally got around to building my stand but he wont give it to me until christmas so i guess I wont set the tank up until then. I hope Im not too big by then
On a brighter note I am now an auntie for the first time. My sister in law gave birth to my little neice Teanna on November 6th. YAY shes so beautiful. A few more months and it will be me Yikes. Pretty scarry.

[BlueAbyss]

I like the way your rockwork looks already Congrats on being an auntie!

[skabooya]

Well my father in law built and painted a stand for me YAY!!! but i dont get it until christmas lol. So I guess/hope that it will be started for the new year.
I am now 19 weeks 5 days pregnant and baby is kicking up a storm

Once the tank is cycled my first purchase will more than likely be shrooms... after the CUC

[skabooya]

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!! Tank and stand are in place. Geez this reef stuff takes forever lol.
Im in the process of marking final exams for my classes but I want to get all things organized under my stand today.
I also need to find a small container so i can make distilled water and store it there so i can calibrate my refractometer.

Now i want to get it right. Im so excited im forgetting where to start.
Step 1: fill tank with water and mix salt in it until desired salinity All powerheads turned on
Step 2: put rocks and sand in tank
Step 3: Buy LR to seed the tank
Step 4: Wait patiently for cycle to be over
Step 5: buy CUC
Step 6: Buy more CUC if previous CUC has croaked or is not doing its job well enough
Step 7: Buy inverts
Step 8: Buy some corals added at 2 week intervals so as not to overwhelm the system
Step 9: Buy 2 true percs
Step 10: Turn on skimmer


Am I missing anything? Should i change the steps? Add steps? Let me know PLEASE.
I dont want to forget anything and with times being as stressful and busy as they are (only going to get worse with baby comming in 3 months) I need step by step

[Chase31]

i would turn the skimmer on right after you put water in, i have my tank with just sand in it and the skimmers going, it will take a fair amount of the live rock

[Foxface]

Originally Posted by Chase31

i would turn the skimmer on right after you put water in, i have my tank with just sand in it and the skimmers going, it will take a fair amount of the live rock

Originally Posted by asmodeus

my system costs around 30 bucks a month for my full blown SPS with 3 250's i have a 150 gal too i guess it pays to live in manitoba .568 cent a kilo watt

Here is a web site to a calculator that will help you figure out your monthly electric bill. www.citytrf.net/costs_calculator.htm Hope this helps.

[skabooya]

added water and salt. Will wait until tomorrow to test the salinity at which time I will either add rocks and sand or adjust the salinity some more.

[Chase31]

what kind of water are you using just tap? or RO, also what type of salt (all for interests sake )