Lighting Electricity Cost

So where are you getting your .12/kwh from? Some folks have outrageous power costs.... which is how you get to outrageous bills. However.... $120/month for tank power is just silly. According to DOE for Dec 2009.... average residential rates in California are .15/kwh, but that does not mean that is what you are paying. you realy need to look at your electric bill for what you are paying for various times.

 

I highly doubt that is true. Why even have a 250w bulb then? Why not just call it a 400w bulb. Same with the ballast, you buy a 250w ballast for a 250w bulb. IMO, it goes beyond reason and commonsense.

You have stated some benefits of T5 and negatives of MH, but you don't necessarily need a chiller and as the above discussion implies, T5s and MH (watt for watt) use the same amount of electricity, you do just need to factor in the inefficiency for both.

 

Weird, my 2x250 MHs do not need a chiller. Mine is sitting in the garage waiting to be sold.

 

Very true, the base price about South Eastern Pa is about .09-.12 center per Kw/hr, but you actually pay about .18 per kw/hr with taxes and fees. Also, in the summer, you are billed x amount for the first 1000 or so Kw/hr, then it goes up. I've calculated that my 55 costs about $30-$35 per month to run.

 

The other aspect not being discussed is the type of ballast you use. There are magnetic and fully integrated circuitry digital ballasts. Most of the higher end ballasts that I'm familiar with are fully integrated/digital circuitry. Examples that I know of off hand are Lumatek and Galaxy. Perhaps IceCaps? IDK but I do know that discrete circuit HID ballasts are less efficient than digitals. Keep that in mind. Plus the hum of a magnetic ballast gets super annoying IMO. So a 400w Digital may use ~418w to run constantly versus a magnetic which could use as much as 450w depending on brand.

 

Good point, I know the Galaxy ballasts are some of the nicest out there and are very efficient. If I ever get MH, I will be using those ballasts.

 

Hahahaha...I always said this in the past...but now that I have MH..There is no going back!!!;D;D;D

 

good call! I am on a tiered electricity rate here so adding the fish tank bumps me up to tier 3 and 4 which are double and quadruple the base rate! Ouch!

The pump, skimmer, and power heads running 24-7 and the heaters running ~an hour a day add 120kWh a month.

The 596W MH+led combo on 10hrs a day adds ~180 kWh.
The 432 Powermodule on 10 hrs a day adds ~131 kWh.
The 3x75W AI LED on 10 hrs a day adds ~70kWh.

My total electricity bill goes from $40 to $100-$150 in the summer and $70-$90 in the winter. With the price tiers that becomes a $50 difference a month in the summer and a $20 difference in the winter between LEDs and MH. This is not even considering a chiller. LED is all of a sudden price competitive with MH on a relatively short time scale (~1.5yrs)

Maybe it is worth it to pay the $1700 now to get the LEDs.

Now the question arises are they actually as good as MH? Has anyone who has been successful with SPSs (tank older than a couple years) switched to AI LEDs and had continued success (>1yr)?

 

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/specialty-lights/electricity-aqua.pdf

T5 & MH electrical usage and cost info.

 

Nice link.