Epic Build, The 750 monster

[Coleus]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Just got my first bill with the new Hydro smart meter, $870.00

Good lord, that is for a fowlr, imagine what cost would be for a full reef. I hope it is a mistake by them

[Mrfish55]

My guess is the heaters, even with the tank and sump covered I still need to heat 900 gallons (on this tank alone) and then there is another 500 gal between the other two.

[outacontrol]

Is the new meters billing by the hour now? Different rates for different times of the day?

[fishoholic]

My last bill (power and water) was $550.00 usually it's $340.00 and that's just for one month power was at 15 cents per kwh I've switched to enmax (starts next month) which is 8 cents per kwh so my bill should be less.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I'd be out of the hobby asap if my bills were ever anywhere near that high.

[lastlight]

We switched to that Enmax EasyMax thingy right when I powered up the new tank to lock in at a decent rate. I'm not really in charge of bills but my wife told me she barely saw any difference in our consumption since so it must be working in our favour.

[Mrfish55]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

I'd be out of the hobby asap if my bills were ever anywhere near that high.

I've had at least 1 tank running continuous for the last 32 years, might consider downsizing if the next bill is this high, we are a 1 income family and I am off recovering from elbow surgery for at least another month, family first and they just might be having Unicorn Tang sandwiches for lunch!

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

My guess is the heaters, even with the tank and sump covered I still need to heat 900 gallons (on this tank alone) and then there is another 500 gal between the other two.

I would suggest you try to heat the room as best as possible to keep it around 78 degrees. Generally, large heaters (like furnaces) are much cheaper to run than small heaters (like aquarium heaters). Things like large air pumps and dehumidifiers can be much more energy efficient than aquarium heaters, and put out a lot of heat into the room.

For example, you could use a large air pump like a Coralife Super Luft 65 which uses 66 watts and has more than enough gusto to mix your large saltwater mixing tubs and it would heat a small room quite well too. I'm not sure how you have everything set up though, maybe heating the room isn't an option.