cutting back on E bill

[jhale]

Cutting back on the electric Bill

upfront costs vs. long term bill payments


well here is another thread about cutting back on the cost of electricity.

I'll use my tank as an example of what you can do.

first lets talk about lighting.

I have two 175 mh on a magnetic ballast and one 250 mh on a electronic ballast. this is over a 5' tank that is 20" deep.

by installing two luminarc reflectors i could eliminate one of the mh bulbs.

I would sell the 175mh set up and add a 250 mh on another evc electric ballast.

I also have two icecapp 430 ballasts running four vho tubes two are 48" and two are 60", that's a lot of t-12 wattage.

I can cut that in half by swapping the t-12's for t-5's.

Adding ozone.
by adding ozone to the system this would help keep the water nice and clear, thus letting the light penetrate the water easier and being more effective.

next up is flow,

I have one tunze 6060, and a quiet one 6000 on a closed loop, plus the return, and two mj1200 power heads sweeping the bottom on a wave timer.

the tunze is 13 watts rated at 1800gph, and the quiet one 6000 is 140 watts rated at 1550 gph.

changing the CL pump to a second tunze is a dramatic difference.

the skimmer challenge.

I now have a etss reef devil on a rio 2100, this kind of sucks, the skimmer is underpowered for my set up and the rio uses 37 watts.

I would switch to the new tunze skimmer, it uses 21 watts.

Cooling the tank.

this one is big, I have a 1/2 hp red sea chiller. I never figured out the wattage, lets just say it's quite a bit.

Deltec has a new eco cooler out that employs two, or four fans to cool the water in what looks like an old wet dry filter design. they use 48 watts for the two fan design, the size rated fro my tank. the downside is the expense, about 1200.00 for the middle sized model. depending on conditions you may need to run a humidifier to help the eco cooler work, and deltec advises keeping a old chiller connected just in case the eco cooler needs help on the hottest of days.
the saving here can be tremendous. first the eco cooler does not add heat to the room, and it runs on the fraction of energy a equivalent refrigerant chiller uses.

cost break down,

flow - $150.00
lights- $480.00
ozone equipment- $400.00
skimmer- $435.00
cooling- $1200.00

total: $2665.00 (this is assuming I buy everything new)

total watts saved: 1702 (factoring the red sea chiller at 1150 watts)

of course the chiller is used for three months out of the year, but it is still a large savings.

the way I see it I would rather upgrade the equipment gradually to be the highest quality and most energy efficient as possible, than to continue paying con ed to run my tank for me.
I hope this helps someone setting up a tank for the first time, these are things you might not think about until the first e-bill comes.
thoughts?

 

[Pseudo]

Save more money and space. Depending on how big your tank is and how many degrees in temp it actually goes up during the summer months (assuming that you dont have problems in the winter with the lighting heating up your tank), you could downsize and sell the 1/2hp chiller to a brand new 1/4hp and it pays for itself. It also uses less electricity and wont cost you $1200 bucks for a kids science project. Then you could buy me, Rich and Steve more rounds....



Kasei

 

[jhale]

Save more money and space. Depending on how big your tank is and how many degrees in temp it actually goes up during the summer months (assuming that you dont have problems in the winter with the lighting heating up your tank), you could downsize and sell the 1/2hp chiller to a brand new 1/4hp and it pays for itself. It also uses less electricity and wont cost you $1200 bucks for a kids science project. Then you could buy me, Rich and Steve more rounds....
kasei

well in my present space i need a 20 degree pulldown in june, july, august, and september- for 160 gallons. i don't think a 1/4hp will do it.

I'll still buy you drinks, but a few nights out with you rich and steve would pay for all my upgrades, lol.

a kids science project just saw that. it's only 48 watts though! vs 1000 something watts.

 

[Pseudo]

Yeah you need a 1hp then. If it works less then it isnt using that much power. The smaller the chiller the more it works and the higher the electric bill.

Kasei

 

[joseney21]

J get solar panels!!!

J/K...

 

[Pseudo]

Sup Jose ?

 

[jhale]

J get solar panels!!!

J/K...

I have thought about it and looked into it.
it does not pay to do this in the city yet.

some one could drop something on one of the panels, then your $crewed

 

[cali_reef]

J, the eco cooler will not work in our summer weather without your dehumidifier working 24/7 to get the humidity down to 30-40%, my Sears dehumidifier pulls more amps than my 1/3 hp chiller.

 

[cali_reef]

I have thought about it and looked into it.
it does not pay to do this in the city yet.

some one could drop something on one of the panels, then your $crewed

I read an article a month ago in WJ on a new technology for solar generators. It works like a self moving satellite dish, tracking the sun, it is much smaller than conventional panels.

 

[michael stern]

How's this one:

I originally used a mag 3600 for my main return. Nice and cheap and pushes a ton of water: 350 watts

I switched to a much more expensive ampmaster 2700, 120 watts.

Savings:
230 watts x 24 hours x $.175/kwh = $352 per year Con Ed Savings!!!!!

How cheap is that Mag pump now

 

[ctxmonitor]

Yea, energy efficiency is top prority to me too. I would save and pay up front then to have some mega watts drain me down slowly...

I'm going to try to get these for my 90 gallon tank:

Main Lighting: 2 x 250 watt Icecap (heard it saves a little bit of energy compare to other ballast)
Actinic Lighitng: 430 Icecap on two T5 54 Watts bulb
Main Return Pump: Red Dragon 4.5 (1189 g/h) uses 48 watts.
Closed Loop Pump: Rio 800 (211 g/h) hook up so it blow on the starboard uses 12 watts
Flow: Tunze 6000 (uses 15 watts) and Tunze 6060 uses 11 watts
Skimmer: Looking at deltec ($$$ ouch) or H&S A150

 

[aaron]

I havent seen the eco cooler yet but it sounds to me like it would significantly increase your evaporation rate - just another thing to consider.
A

 

[alrha]

Jon, I dont know the eco cooler, but it sounds like it is just evaporative cooling. save the $1200 and buy yourself a whole bunch of fans to blow over your tank and sump.
20 degrees? :bigeyes2: do you set your thermostat to 100 degrees for the summer? i think you may be running your heat through the summer. Forget con-ed, check your keyspan bill!!

ctx, why not look into the Tunze skimmer? (i want a red-dragon too).

 

[ctxmonitor]

ctx, why not look into the Tunze skimmer? (i want a red-dragon too).

Looking and considering them now ..

 

[jhale]

Jon, I dont know the eco cooler, but it sounds like it is just evaporative cooling. save the $1200 and buy yourself a whole bunch of fans to blow over your tank and sump.
20 degrees? :bigeyes2: do you set your thermostat to 100 degrees for the summer? i think you may be running your heat through the summer. Forget con-ed, check your keyspan bill!!

ctx, why not look into the Tunze skimmer? (i want a red-dragon too).

lol, without my main ac on the apt hits 100 in the summer, nice and toasty.
the ac is a 35,000 btu monster so i try not to run it 24/7 that generates con ed bills to make you cry.

 

[jackson6745]

Yea, energy efficiency is top prority to me too. I would save and pay up front then to have some mega watts drain me down slowly...

I'm going to try to get these for my 90 gallon tank:

Main Lighting: 2 x 250 watt Icecap (heard it saves a little bit of energy compare to other ballast)
Actinic Lighitng: 430 Icecap on two T5 54 Watts bulb
Main Return Pump: Red Dragon 4.5 (1189 g/h) uses 48 watts.
Closed Loop Pump: Rio 800 (211 g/h) hook up so it blow on the starboard uses 12 watts
Flow: Tunze 6000 (uses 15 watts) and Tunze 6060 uses 11 watts
Skimmer: Looking at deltec ($$$ ouch) or H&S A150

I like to be dragged down slowly It will take forever for you to make up the cost of that equipment in saved electricity.

 

[Pseudo]

Please... When you see your $400+ elec bill compared to someone elses $200 bill that has the same size tank and necessary equipment, you will crap your pants. Just moving my lighting scheme from 250w halide to 400 watters cost me $46 extra a month then it doesn't seem like a small jump. The more light the more heat the more equipment it takes to keep the tank stable. Chillers and fans and extras.... It all adds up. If you start planning from the beginning you wont have to worry much.

Kasei

PS: Bigger skimmer = Bigger pumps = Bigger elec bills

 

[jhale]

I like to be dragged down slowly It will take forever for you to make up the cost of that equipment in saved electricity.

no, look at Michael Sterns example, changing that one pump makes a huge difference.

I'll give you the eco cooler, if it needs a de-humidifier to work then it's not saving anything.

but the 13 watt tunze vs the 140 watt quiet one

and the 732 watts of light vs my 1100 watts now,

that's 495 watts saved. it will pay off pretty quickly.

think about the environment Rich, don't you want to help? :usa1: :usa1: :sgrin:

 

[Pseudo]

I am looking into all of the energy savings now because I dont plan on buying anything but coral and livestock afterwards.. I want companies that have the best R&D and warranty for the money. Icecap, Tunze, SLS, Pacific Coast, Red Dragon pumps and so on... Not only are they the best but they have better quality service and that makes a difference when something goes wrong and you are in a frenzy and the next day get the part you need (sometimes free).

We know how we feel about our tanks and corals and fish. We not only take pride in them but come to think of them as more than just objects. When something happens to them, we get pissed. Then comes the hurt and pain (why did I buy a seaclone instead of a Deltec, Why did this Rio blow up in my tank, why didnt I get a clear true union check valve, why didn't I buy the osmolator instead of having my moronic friend top off my tank...)

Planning ahead and paying attention is what will make this hobby a pleasent experience or a very painful expensive one.

Kasei

 

[jhale]

can we change Rich's sig to "con ed pimp"

I saw all those pumps under his tank, OMG it looks like a water treatment plant