Utility bill

[kdawg]

OK here are some questions I cant find any posts on. Has anyone ever tried comparing their electric bill pre and post tank setup? I know its a tough question because there are so many variables to consider but I was wondering if anyone has ever done a yearly/monthly electric cost comparison for their tanks.

Here is an even tougher question. Has anyone ever done a monthly overhead cost for the maintenance of their tanks? I would think you could break something like that down according to tank size and what kind of tank your running. Fish only, fish and live rock or reef. But I have no idea.

I'm defiantly a newbie to saltwater and reefing and was wondering about the monthly upkeep of tanks are. I can wrap my head around the initial investment but like I said I no idea what the monthly upkeep would be. I'm a freshwater wanting to go salt and I know they're a world apart.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Ocelot199]

My tanks been up and running for maybe 4 months now, and I've never noticed any real change in the electricity bills. Of course, I didn't have my lighting system until a week ago... so I guess I'll see how that effects it.

Water bill went through the freakin' roof though. Usually its something like 40 bucks, now its more around 100. I've got just under 100 gallons of water in my system, and do a 15 gallon water change every 2 weeks, along with constant top offs.

All in all, I'm sure I've spent well over $3000 on everything, not including livestock. I kept track of it for a while, but it got too depressing.

[Rob]

i have not but you are right there are a lot of variables.
your lights are usually the main component, then usually the pumps.

about all i can say is there is NO cheap part of this hobby....lol

[wwest]

With all my pumps and my MH i think mine went up about 5-10 kw which is nothing in the way of an increase. I would say around $5.. The tank i have now i think the most expensive expense is the live stock :)

[kdawg]

What about people's monthly maintenance upkeep? Supplies like salt, water, chemicals, food etc.

[kdawg]

My tanks been up and running for maybe 4 months now, and I've never noticed any real change in the electricity bills. Of course, I didn't have my lighting system until a week ago... so I guess I'll see how that effects it.

Water bill went through the freakin' roof though. Usually its something like 40 bucks, now its more around 100. I've got just under 100 gallons of water in my system, and do a 15 gallon water change every 2 weeks, along with constant top offs.

All in all, I'm sure I've spent well over $3000 on everything, not including livestock. I kept track of it for a while, but it got too depressing.

Now there is something I didn't consider the WATER! I'll jot that one down in my notebook.

[wwest]

I spend a total of about 7 hours a week with my tank. as for supplies salt lasts me forever. I purchased my last salt bucket maybe 3 months ago which it was around $50. I purchased a R/O unit which was around $200 before that i was buying water at wally world which i think i was spending less then $4 a week. I dont use many chemicals and for the food i spend probably $25 a month on food maybe $30. I think that about all of my normal purchases, sometime i buy more cleaning supplies or more containers for cleaning or storing. I would say i have around $75 dollars in test kits since march of 2006.. If i can think of anything else i will post it but i would say thats about it.

[PSH]

Funny you bring this up. My wife has been freaking about our electric bill. It has been $300+, but the strange thing is that every once in a while it will be $200. So we bought a Kill A Watt meter to find the source. If I figured it right my 75 gallon tank with everything running (MH, PCs, heater, pumps... etc.) cost $1.10 a day. The tank with everything running draws about 900 watts. So for 31 days it would cost me $34. The room heaters that we use average about $40 a month. :o Now I pretty much sealed the fate of getting a larger tank.

[lReef lKeeper]

my electric bill went up about $25 when i added the 3 x 250w MH's to my main tank. i am gonna hate it when i get my new prop system going (2 x 250w MH, 2 x 110w VHO actincs, mag 12 return pump). i am guessing a $30 - $40 increase in the bill ... AGAIN !!

[CarmieJo]

We have an "equal payment plan" typs account with the power company and when our revised bill came it was $25 higher than last year.

[kdawg]

Funny you bring this up. My wife has been freaking about our electric bill. It has been $300+, but the strange thing is that every once in a while it will be $200. So we bought a Kill A Watt meter to find the source. If I figured it right my 75 gallon tank with everything running (MH, PCs, heater, pumps... etc.) cost $1.10 a day. The tank with everything running draws about 900 watts. So for 31 days it would cost me $34. The room heaters that we use average about $40 a month. :o Now I pretty much sealed the fate of getting a larger tank.

I've been wanting to get one of those meters to test various other things in my house like the Plamsa TV. But this is all good information. I think this topic is important for newcomers like me who may not know how much it actually cost to run a tank.

[PSH]

I love this meter. Only had it less than a week, but have learned so much. Probably the best $25 I have spent. So far the 75 gallon reef is the most expensive thing in the house. My wife keeps giving it a funny look now. My plan on upgrading to 250 watt MH is on hold. Might try the switch to T-5's. I thought I could also switch out my dual return pumps for a single lower wattage pump, but there isn't one out there. External pumps are huge power vaccums.

[duke1231]

my electric bill went from 85 to 104 dollars, needless to say the wife was not amused lol

[Danamck]

This is something I have wanted to do for quite a while. I, too, have been concerned about our rising electric bill. Of course, i live in California, and I believe we have the highest electricity costs of anywhere in the US. In addition, the more you go over your baseline, the more you are charged.

So with this in mind, I decided to figure out what the ACTUAL electricity cost was. OMG! After discovering this shocking number, I decided to figure out what my monthly total cost of maintaining my 240. OMG again! So below is my chart showing every cost I could think of, except for adding new livestock. I figured out what the annual costs, then determined the monthly costs. Read it and weep!

electricity - $235.00
water - $10.00
ro/di filter - $2.00
ro/di carbon - $3.00
ro/di ro - $4.00
ro/di di - $2.00
salt - $10.00
test kits - $3.00
chemi pure - $10.00
rowa phos - $7.00
poly filter - $6.00
bulbs - $18.00
diatom bags - $14.00
food - $10.00
Calcium - $3.00
Alk - $4.00
mag/stront - $1.00
misc - $10.00

total - $352.00 a month!

Excuse me while I go and share this tidbit of information with my wife. I sure hope she's in a good mood!

[PSH]

Thanks Danamck! Now I can show your total to my wife and say, "See it could be worse." :tongue2:

[duke1231]

yea good point I think I will do the same hehe

[Danamck]

Excellent! I'm glad I could be of service!

[kdawg]

I like how everyone talks about how their wives are not amused and look at them funny. I wonder if the women reefers' husbands look at them funny. :)

[poppin_fresh]

My electric bill is consistently in the $150 range. This is over 1/3 higher than before I added my basement sump. The big problem I have now is that I have 700 watts of heaters that run 24/7 to maintain 78 degrees. I often wonder if I could add a 250w MH, get more light, and eliminate some heating needs.

[CarmieJo]

I like how everyone talks about how their wives are not amused and look at them funny. I wonder if the women reefers' husbands look at them funny. :)

Just so!

[bmwaaron]

My tank seems to cost me about $65 a month in Electicity.. Of course if you live in California your going to pay about triple that. I run my 2 250w MH lights about 8 hours a day plus the 2 96w VHO's.
My water bill also went up allot. I was using a chiller and I would bet it was costing me about $17.00 a month to operate until I switched to a 8 watt 120mm AC fan which keeps my tank under 81 F at all times but does evaporate about a gallon of water aday.

[gwen_o_lyn]

I wonder if the women reefers' husbands look at them funny. :)


omg, you have no idea all the drama that goes on in this house because of my hobby, but I just kindly remind him that "the tanks were here before you" :tongue2:

[kdawg]

omg, you have no idea all the drama that goes on in this house because of my hobby, but I just kindly remind him that "the tanks were here before you" :tongue2:

Then I was right! The female reefers' counter parts do give them a hard time.

[Danamck]

I believe it's hard for those not into reefkeeping to truly understand our hobby - what we go through and why it's worth it - female or male. I am just grateful that my wife puts up with the time and financial investment, and enjoys looking at the tanks almost as much as I do.

[Rob]

I believe it's hard for those not into reefkeeping to truly understand our hobby - what we go through and why it's worth it - female or male. I am just grateful that my wife puts up with the time and financial investment, and enjoys looking at the tanks almost as much as I do.
you are so right..
we all know those eye ball jutting, jaw dropping looks we get when we talk about what we do or what we spend..
they just cant understand ...

[biggy_boie]

its no worse then what people spend on sport cars or even scrap booking for that matter which i here can be very costly. but what drives my wife crazy is that im in to anything r/c.

[kdawg]

its no worse then what people spend on sport cars or even scrap booking for that matter which i here can be very costly. but what drives my wife crazy is that im in to anything r/c.

R/C AND reefing? Can I borrow your money tree?

I'm sure R/C'ing isn't cheap either.

[Seahorsedreams]

I like how everyone talks about how their wives are not amused and look at them funny. I wonder if the women reefers' husbands look at them funny. :)

Mine looks at me with love and passion because I have a reefer man!!

Instead of walking hand in hand on the beach we are found playing in the tidepools squealing to each other to come see the coool critter.

Our favorite restaurant is Bubba Gump.... because it's right next to the Pacific Aquarium..... to which we have season passes.

Some of our best dates yet involves going to the LFS and then home for drinks!

I'm a lucky lucky woman.

[AllyF]

My electricity bill is always $150 a month and the water is around $30 for two months.

We are in a newer house now and the bills actually went down, but I would guess my tank is about a third of the bill.

Ally

[Phurst]

I set up my tank and installed my hot tub in the same month, so i can't say for sure how much the tank cost to run, but between the two, the bill went up about $60/month.

I guess I'm luck that my wife is nearly as interested in the tank as I am.

[CarmieJo]

I love our hot tub! We've had it for several years and saw a $3-4/month increase in our power bill the year we got it.

[Phurst]

Wow, that's pretty good.

We love ours too, we're out there nearly every day!

[Boy_named_Su]

R/C AND reefing? Can I borrow your money tree?

I'm sure R/C'ing isn't cheap either.


What is R/C'ing?

[Amphibious]

Radio controlled toys???

[DJGonzo69]

Well I'm glad my wife is also into the hobby. We have a total of 5 tanks. 3 Marine & 2 Freshwater. My electrical bill before MH was about $40 a month now with the MH in full cycle it's at $120. Plus I have some other hobbies too (R/C cars, Fishing, Dj'ing, Guns, cooking). It all adds up!!! But hey it's all fun!

[fat walrus]

I hate PG&E. You have no idea how much. :madmad:

[CarmieJo]

But they must LOVE you.

[Danamck]

I hate PG&E as well, FW. Though I wasn't aware that they supplied power to the BORGs! I would have made some sort of comment on where the BORG ship power comes from, but then word would get around that I'm a Trek fan as well. And we can't have that!