Electrical bill....

I just upgraded my VHO lights to MH. Before, I was running 300 W of VHO.
So, now I'm running about 200W of SuperActinic VHO and 300W of MH. I just
got my electrical bill and it was an increase of $40 over last month. And that
only included about 2 weeks at the most of my new lighting system. Is it
possible that my bill will increase $50 to $80 a month just by running my
new tank? I guess I should add I'm also running a return pump which I didn't
have before. If that's the case, I think I'm in trouble.

I doubt the new lights would raise your bill that much in one month. But I guess it just depends on how much your paying for electricity. It seems that electric companies charge per kilowatt hours. So lets say it costs you 5 cents per kilowatt hour. So take your light wattage (500) and times that by the number of hours you used in a day (say 10). That would give you 500 * 10 = 5000 watt hours used per day. Convert to kilowatt hours and you get 5 kilowatt hours per day. Figure out the cost of that -- 5 kwh * 5 cents per kwh = 25 cents per day. Times that over the whole month (30 days) and you have spent a wopping $7.50 a month. So just figure out how much your electricity costs from your electric bill and how many hours you use your stuff and you can figure out how much your lights or whatever else will cost in a day or month.

p.s. If you don't want to do the math then use this calculator -- Electricity cost calculator

Edited by Kevin

Oh, one other thing, if you cant figure out the watts of a paticular device you can figure out the watt usage by doing
-- watts = volts * amps

Edited by Kevin

My electric bill has doubled ($50 to $100) since I started having tanks.  I do have 3 different systems going though.

I dont even want to know.......

I have a 3 seperate systems running with a total of 7 tanks (soon to be 9), and I live in Texas where A/C alone costs a ton.....so just remember that it could be a lot worse!

haha, you guys always have your minds in the gutter!

Don't let her see the bills nor check book records.

Oh, and apparently if you buy her a dog she won't care about anything else.

Adam

dnellans wrote: haha, you guys always have your minds in the gutter!

bugzme wrote: I'm with Adam! Keep her thinking about something else!

Adam

This is crazy!!!!  I currently have a 65 gallon tank.  I have wanted to upgrade but I though my wife wouldn't want anything bigger.  Just last night, she said "I would like to get a bigger tank".  We visited Reefrookies house a month or so ago and he has a 120.  She said she wanted one like his.  That was like music to my ears.  I guess all of those times watching Finding Nemo really worked.  All she keeps talking about is how she wants a "Dori" fish.  I already have a purple and a yellow tang in there so I dont dare unless I get a bigger tank.  I almost thought I was dreaming...