Electric Bill- OMG- Help me find what I need

[bsharpe]

Okay here is what I am thinking, is there a timer out there that can control two different cords by alternating the power from one to another. My thought is to have my vortec run for 20 minutes, 10 minute break, regular pumps and skimmer 20 minutes, 10 minute break, repeat. Thoughts, comments, other plans other than going with a terrarium

 

[djkms]

IMO this will do pretty much nothing for your bill. IIRC I think each pump is around $3-$5 per month to run 24/7. The software I use at home tells you how much electricity each piece of equipment uses and the cost associated with it per month. The 2 killers are heaters and lighting. On my 125 gallon with a mag 12 return, mag 9 on the skimmer, mag 9 on the calcium reactor, 2 MP40's, 3 LED fixtures, 400watt heater, 2 dosing pumps is costing me around $30-$34 a month.

 

[Dracx]

This will do it. I have this running my PC setup (10Ks on cord 1, Actinics on cord 2, Moonlights on cord 3)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coralife-Aq...774?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41626241c6

 

[bsharpe]

That is interesting, my three tanks have raised my electric bill about 25 bucks a month. What software is it that you have? Spoke to Xcel Energy and I can get a Watts meter from the library. See what is the worst culprit!

 

[Haddonisreef]

What software is that? I'd like to see where il at!

 

[djkms]

http://www.aquariumlog.com/

 

[Walter White]

This one is handy too and can definitely help to determine what in your setup consumes the most power.

http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/tank-electrical

Are you sure its just not the colder weather that might be hiking the bill up? Perhaps your heaters are having to work a little harder with the cold weather?

 

[Cherub]

here's the 30 day free trial from CNET

http://download.cnet.com/Aquarium-Lab/3000-2130_4-10516437.html

 

[nadking]

I think turning your pumps on and off like that is a bad idea. You may save in electricity but you will shorten the life of the pump in the process. Also if you turn your skimmer on and off it may not work properly as the slime in the neck will constantly be drying and re-wetting.

 

[tlsrcs]

also most electronics take considerably more energy during start up then when normally running.

 

[Dbarnes]

I would say you have nothing to worry about, my bill went up 95.00 when my tank from came online . I cut that in half by running my Skimmer on two four hour cycles, as it runs two mag 9's and then enclosed my refugium and made sure as little water disturbance as possible was taking place on the water level. In my calculations my heaters and light combined were running 13killawatts a day, roughly 27% of my total power consumption, total tank was running roughly 21KW a day this was almost 95.00 a month. Your setup might be different but I also insulated and enclosed my fish room and ran a heater duct to it. Between everything I adjusted and took time to solve it saves me about 35.00 a month. Which I turn around and buy corals with

Just my 2cents worth

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

 

[dv3]

your heater is probably using the most power of what you listed especially being that it is winter ....turning it off wont do you much good because it only runs when it has to and if you let the temp fall and try to bring it back up when you give the heater power again its just going to have to stay on twice as long to heat the water back up ...be glad you dont have MH lighting

 

[chrislorentz]

Yea Lighting sucks I run 2 x 400 Watts 4 x 54 watts of T-5, 3 PC of some type wattage for sumps plus bio cube PC 6 t-8 over fowlr and regular compact high energy 15 Watts x 4 over fresh water plus 4 x 24 wats T-5 over Solana. Damn thats just lights no wonder my electric bill is 250 a month. good thing I dont have to pay it.....

 

[bsharpe]

I wasn't going to mess with the heaters, just alternating the pumps. I don't want to kill stuff

 

[Zooid]

Cycling pumps on and off will probably not cause a good change in your electric bill. It may even increase your bill because everytime you start a pump, it
draws more current than it uses while running. I'd be willing to bet that your Vortech uses very little power.

Heaters use a LOT of electricity and metal halide lights use a tremendous amount of energy. I noticed a BIG energy savings when I went from three 400W
metal halides to six AI units.

 

[that0neguy1126]

Here is the graph from apex for the last 24 hours on my system. The high's are low's correlate with when my heater kicks on and when it goes off. The jump at 8a is my LED's turning on.

 

[andyrm66]

My return from basement and skimmer pulls 102 watts, this is 800GPH. When the heaters are one this is ~750 watts. 400 watt halide pulls 375, with 2 circ pumps its 392 watss. In the last 48 hours heaters, return pump and skimmer used 18kwh. With Xcel rates during the summer this sucks. My bill is running clsoe to $300 during the winter, this will be close to $500 in the summer with the ac. Damn vaulted ceilings. I did just get done insulating the sump and raising the temp in the basement. Gas is much cheaper that elec to heat a tank with. run 69 not 64 in the basement see if it drops in the next few months.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

My return from basement and skimmer pulls 102 watts, this is 800GPH. When the heaters are one this is ~750 watts. 400 watt halide pulls 375, with 2 circ pumps its 392 watss. In the last 48 hours heaters, return pump and skimmer used 18kwh. With Xcel rates during the summer this sucks. My bill is running clsoe to $300 during the winter, this will be close to $500 in the summer with the ac. Damn vaulted ceilings. I did just get done insulating the sump and raising the temp in the basement. Gas is much cheaper that elec to heat a tank with. run 69 not 64 in the basement see if it drops in the next few months.

Good info...I'm gonna have to check the temp in my basement. I opened my heating ducts down there when right before putting my tanks online. I was wondering why my electric bill shot through the roof last month (after starting up the tanks). Hammerhead 6000gph pump (24/7) and about 1800w of heaters, thank goodness I went with LED's for lighting! I can't imagine if I was running halides/T5's. I'm dreading adding whatever big pump I need for my skimmer. I think I'm going to run that every other day, or a couple times per week (huge skimmer). This build may kill me this summer!!

OP, $25/mo for three tanks is pretty awesome I think! IMO

 

[kmcmurtry]

I run halides and my bill has increased a bit. We need an energy-saving in-tank heater. Also looking to add a chiller maybe - that probably adds some watts for sure. I'm a little worried about what to expect this Summer as it will be my first with this large of a tank. I usually run the AC if it's 80 or hotter outside, but I worry what will happen if someone shuts the AC off (my spouse likes to do that since he likes it Sahara-hot). I run 175 mh's and it gets pretty warm in the canopy. I worry if the house is 80 that the tank is going to be 90, but I've never been there so can't say yet.

 

[kmcmurtry]

OH, also, I did look at that double timer but all my plugs are freakin' ginormous so each of them would take up 2 spots. The halides take like 4 by themselves