chimera Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 ok, i know this is gone on before, but my power bill for the last month is $330! thats prior to putting the 400W'ers on! have not worked out what portion is tank costs, but probably 1/3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 My bill is already around the $300 mark every month and I would like to upgrade my lights Scares the crap out of me as the bill is scary enough. Have seriously thought about getting a little generator to tide the tank over when the power goes somewhere else (mind you, we watched Auckland in the dark while we had power. I knew I moved north for a reason (apart from traffic jams) :lol: :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Mine just hit $430.00 :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Ouch how many tanks do you run? My bill is only while running one tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 a big one!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 $190 a month purely on the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickle Pickle Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Is there a way to calculate how much your tanks are using by themselves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 a big one!! :lol: Where do you reckon the main cost comes into it with the tank? The lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Is there a way to calculate how much your tanks are using by themselves? or put a centameter around the RCD phase wire that runs your tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 yip, meter how much power it draws. Or you can get an estimate from the wattages of all the equipment you have running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Posted while KP posted - thanks for the link KP - I can answer my own question now :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickle Pickle Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Or you can get an estimate from the wattages of all the equipment you have running. How much do power companies charge roughly per kWh? Would be nice to have a rough estimate as my flatmates recon my tank is the cause of our increase in our power bill, I recon its the heaters they are using and our general lazyness in turning lights off etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 I'm paying 21 cents per kWhr during the day, and 9 cents a kWhr night rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 wow, amazing the difference. im 17.8c/kW during day and 12.8c/night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 What time does night start? :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 good question. I think it may be different for each power company though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifty Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 my last bill was $216, I was shocked as it was a $50 jump on the last few months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 :lol: Where do you reckon the main cost comes into it with the tank? The lights? lights and heating i guess, but i also have 3 streams and a laguna 7 running 24/7 not to mention the skimmers....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 bewteen $400 -$450 per month. About $150 on the tank alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 mine is about $220 a month. How much do power companies charge roughly per kWh? Would be nice to have a rough estimate as my flatmates recon my tank is the cause of our increase in our power bill, I recon its the heaters they are using and our general lazyness in turning lights off etc. Most heaters use around 2000w or more, if you do a quick add up of your lights and pumps it will give you an idea of how muh power you tank uses. I wouldn't count heaters because mine almost never come on even at this time of year because of the lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 How much do power companies charge roughly per kWh? Would be nice to have a rough estimate as my flatmates recon my tank is the cause of our increase in our power bill, I recon its the heaters they are using and our general lazyness in turning lights off etc. varies, roughly though around 15c - 25c for daytime, 7c - 15c nighttime as a guesstimate. it should show on your power bill. add up the wattage of all your equipment then work it out based on how many hours a day you run them and multiply by your k(ilo)W(att)h(our) amounts. as mentioned earlier, mine is 17.9c/kWh during day and 12.8c/kWh at night. I have a centameter which shows how much power I'm using at any one time, I was a little flabbagastered (sp?) when I put the two 400W'ers on, the average cost increased alot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Hey we had our water heater fix about 6 months ago. Now our power is $85-95 a month. We do have a gas bottle heater though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 We do have a gas bottle heater though we got that in addition :-? two of the big bottles that sit outside. hoping i wont need to use the oil heaters in the kids rooms once hrv goes in (or at least limit there use) the other thing i gotta do is line the sump room with polystyrene. i got a heap sitting downstairs all ready to put in. i think it will make a significant difference because i believe the tank heaters are on quite often during these cold nights. i got about 700W's of heaters in there so that adds up quite considerably! I was also thinking I might reduce the number of hours and shift the lighting hours on my tank forward an hour or two. because it is more costly using power during the day than at night, if i run the halides from 12:30pm til 10:30pm i get to see the tank more at night when im at home plus its less costly per hour in power. currently it's 11am til 9pm or thereabouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 power costs @ $280/ month this time of year. my tank costs $50/month ( streams, 600w heating, 500w halides, skimmer and return) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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