Energy Consumption

[AndyL]

Hey All,

Yeah I'm still alive

Been going through a choking over the power bill issue of late As I'm sure we all do... Decided to sit down with google and figure out why the tank's costing me so damn much.

Started with the "smart" part analyzing the pumps I had running - as they have the biggest impact on power (as they're 24/7 always on). Here's the shock; that aquaclear 110 powerhead that's never let me down - 62w!!! Meanwhile that mag12 is wasted - as i'm diverting almost half it's flow back to the sump; it was time for a rework...

Original pumps / consumption:
Mag 12 return 110w
penguin 550 sump feed 23w
maxijet 1200 overflow 20w
AC110 powerhead 62w
Seio 820 powerhead 18w
CSS220 45w

278w


So we're in the process of making some changes, still need to drop to an eheim 1250 on the return and adjust some plumbing (eliminating the pumps to feed the fuge/skimmer); tossed the CSS220 in favour of an old ASU air driven skimmer (which actually is working better than the CSS did)

***
Eheim 1250 Return 28w
TOM Aqualifter pump overflow 3w
Microjet MC320 skimmer feed 6w
Rena Air 400 air pump 8w
Koralia 3 4.5w
Koralia 3 4.5w

54w

228w of power savings @ .094$/kwh (last power bills rate) translates into 184.45$ savings in power costs for the year... So roughly 2 year payback at current pricing...

Just some food for thought...

[Marlin65]

Well compared to the rest of the money I spend on this hobby power is the cheap part.

[fishytime]

Every little bit helps though. $180 more you have to buy coral with. Now switch to solar lighting(solar tubes) and youll have it made.

[mike31154]

On the subject of low power skimmers... I'm back to an old DIY air driven skimmer too after having run a Remora C with Mag 3. Don't recall what the Mag 3 uses for power, but the Remora was pretty noisy with that thing feeding the injector. The old air driven job is dead silent being run by a tiny Aquaclear 301 power head and Stellar S-30 air pump for a total of just over 11 watts. Produces nice dry skimmate too, whereas the Remora just made a lot of mildly coloured water which had to be dumped every couple of days. I've got a drain hose on the air driven, but there's never enough fluid accumulation to have to empy anything. Just scrape out the goo and wipe the collection neck every 4 to 5 days. Another plus is that at 11 watts I'm able to run that skimmer on back up power for quite a while.

[Marlin65]

I run a Ramora and mag 3 as well and have little collection I just assumed it was my low nutrient tank , but now you have me thinking.
PS did not want to seem negative saving money is always good and looks like you have made a difference good on you.

[skylord]

I ran into the same thing when I started setting up my new system. First power bill was 660 for 2 months. Got me looking at where I was wasting the power. Changed a couple of pumps.....removed a couple that were just a waste. All in all I looked at every peace of equipment. But I didnt stop there. I then went through the rest of the house to see were it was being wasted(got one of those power meters....worth the $35). I spent about $300 to change a few things and the way we were living in general. My last power bill was $310 for 2 months. Thats saving over 2000 a year. Well worth the effort.

Scott

[AndyL]

Can't argue with the fact that yes the powers a small component of this hobby, but if you believe that global warming stuff we should all be doing something...

I was just sharing what I found on the one tank - Across the 4 in the house the changes should actually add up to real money

I've got a bunch of solar equipment for the camper (we tend not to be around hookups), I've spent a bit of time lately pondering whether I couldn't run the tank lighting off a solar / wind system... But that'll have to wait until I've got a few grand to dump on a wind turbine

[WhoPoopWrasse]

I'm expecting the police to knock on my door soon thinking I'm running a hydroponics pot house!
I guess I should sit down and calculate all the power all my tanks are sucking up!

AndyL, how did you calculate your power consumption? I recently dyed my hair blonde and I'm lost!

[mark]

Originally Posted by WhoPoopWrasse

I'm expecting the police to knock on my door soon thinking I'm running a hydroponics pot house!
I guess I should sit down and calculate all the power all my tanks are sucking up!

AndyL, how did you calculate your power consumption? I recently dyed my hair blonde and I'm lost!

little calculator here: http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

[WhoPoopWrasse]

Thanks Mark, that's a really cool little calculator
After calculating, it's not as bad as I thought it would be although I only calculated the lighting on my 90 gallon. Just the lighting is $15.86 a month. Maybe tomorrow I'll take the time to calculate the whole shabang!