How much power does a reef tank use monthly?

[Shawn Boe]

I have a waterbox 35.1, hydra 32hd, nero 5, wavelink, return pump, heater, reef octopus 110.
My kids mom said the bill went up 150,00 because of fishtank, I don't believe it!

 

[Auflyfish]

Doubtful. This stuff especially now is pretty efficient. Maybe 40$ a month is a more realistic number and that’s on a high side imo

 

[Radman73]

I have a waterbox 35.1, hydra 32hd, nero 5, wavelink, return pump, heater, reef octopus 110.
My kids mom said the bill went up 150,00 because of fishtank, I don't believe it!

Yeah, difficult to believe for a 35gal system. I have a WB 130 with 75gal remote fuge and I estimate the bill to be roughly $40-$50/month. Though, I do live in Florida. Where you live and how much the heater runs can cause significant differentials, but I don't see any way it costs $150/month.

 

[InactiveAcct]

You could find out for $20 or so with an energy monitoring smart plug, like Kasa KP115.
Can also tally up wattages and estimate useable per day

 

[Auflyfish]

Yeah, difficult to believe for a 35gal system. I have a WB 130 with 75gal remote fuge and I estimate the bill to be roughly $40-$50/month. Though, I do live in Florida. Where you live and how much the heater runs can cause significant differentials, but I don't see any way it costs $150/month.

Good point I didn’t account for where OP lives still not gonna be close to 150$ a month though lol

 

[Auflyfish]

You could find out for $20 or so with an energy monitoring smart plug, like Kasa KP115.
Can also tally up wattages and estimate useable per day

I wasn’t interested in knowing for sure but now I am! Lol where do you find those? Amazon?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

You could find out for $20 or so with an energy monitoring smart plug, like Kasa KP115.
Can also tally up wattages and estimate useable per day

Yup or get a Kill a watt and run your gear through it for 24 hours and do the math.

150$ is a bit extreme even in a colder climate. I get about 100-110 bucks a month more in the summer and thats with running Central A/C at 76-78 degrees when im not home to keep the tank from running too hot. Winter is about 60 bucks a month more. my baseline pre fish tanks was 30-40 bucks a month for electricity.

Cool/frightening part is that my local electric company lets you look up previous bills online for 24-36 months with no footwork and allows comparsion.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I have a waterbox 35.1, hydra 32hd, nero 5, wavelink, return pump, heater, reef octopus 110.
My kids mom said the bill went up 150,00 because of fishtank, I don't believe it!

Not a chance in heck at that size and more than equipment listed with T5's.....I have a 90 gallon , I've tracked it on its own circuit ( electrician who put a smart meter on it) , it runs me 30 a month in summer, 40 in winter all told. With a 200 dollar power bill on average monthly year round. Unless your power bill is over 600 a month.... No , don't believe it.

 

[Malcontent]

In the winter all the heat ends up heating the house anyway so you're really only paying the difference between gas and electric heat assuming you have a gas furnace.

 

[Dom]

Ask to see the bill.

 

[PeterC99]

Did someone get a Tesla and not tell you about it? That would explain the large electric bill increase.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Depends on region in where you live and thier energy rates.
I was getting an average $200/mo bill at previous house and ironically at my new house which is newer, its only about $81.00/mo

 

[PeterEde]

I know in ye olden days. 2000s a mates power bill went up in the hundreds running actinic and halides.
Mine is barely a blip on my bill but I got solar and a battery. Finally found a use for solar power

 

[InactiveAcct]

I wasn’t interested in knowing for sure but now I am! Lol where do you find those? Amazon?

Yeah, I got the 6-plug version of that (hs-300) off Amazon last year. Here’s my return pump outlet - 20.7 kWh in 30 days.

20.7 kWh x $0.18 /kWh (in my area) = $3.27 to run the return pump this month. Rinse and repeat for all the other stuff.

It’s really nice for controllability too. I have an Amazon echo next to the tank and can tell alexa convenient things like turning off the return pump for water changes, turning off the skimmer when I empty the collection up. Also set up “feed mode” to turn off return for 5 min when I feed / dose amino acids, etc.
But wait, there’s more. Reef-pi can control the smart Kasa strips as well, which saves a lot of the headache with wiring it up. And also has the power monitoring like an apex would.

 

[Ferrell]

$28 per month in electricity per apex. Food and all maybe another $10

 

[Reefing102]

Mine went up about $50 for my 65 gallon and that’s with 300w in halides plus pumps heaters etc. I couldn’t see $150 unless it’s a huge system

 

[billyocean]

100% will power

 

[mexi757]

11$ per month 125. If you have an apex it will do the math for you if you know your kwh from power company.

 

[210 Reef Tank]

Mine runs about $48 per month. That's what my Apex system is telling me. I have a 210 gallon tank with a 44 gallon triton sump. I have 2 return pumps and 3 Gen 5 blue lights plus a 800w heater, a 120w UV light plus all the other Neptune bells and whistles this tank calls for. I dont think that is too bad considering the enjoyment I get out of it.

 

[Jerrym21]

I’m in NJ. 180 gal tank, 240 total volume. 2 return pumps, skimmer, led lights, 2-500watt heaters, 2-MP40’s.
PSE&G is $.12 per kwh
I am an electrician and have a separate meter dedicated for my tank. Last month was $43