[organicreefer]

i was just working on the plumbing for the new tank ,and i happen to notice that my iwakimd100rxlt uses 380 watts .awhile back i remember looking at a page that had various pumps listed with the wattage,anyone have that link?

[organicreefer]

c'mon anybody got it?man sitting here adding it up, i dont think im gonna be able to pay the electric bill

440 watts vho-12hours
750 watts mh-10 hours
iwaki pumps md 70(skimmer)and 100(closed loop circulation)the 70 doesnt list the wattage but the 100 is 380w
2 250w ebo's
4 hagen 802's on a wave master(again dont know watts)
1 1" sea swirl(?W)
2 25w incandescent moonlights(1 on at a time)
hmmm maybe thats it.
i think my best chance at saving on elect. is changing the pumps ,i think ive heard the ampmaster is pretty energy efficient .what about powerheads?whats the most efficient?NINONG HELP

[platylover]

If you are using the iwaki 100 for circulation only, you'll probably benefit from moving to a dophin ampmaster. It provides 60gpm/3600 gph at 0ft using only 1.1 amps (1.1 amps x 115 volts = 127 watts!!).

you can get more info at:

http://dolphinpumps.com

[organicreefer]

thanks for the link platylover,i appreciate it .it defintitely swayed me in that direction,but its alot of money too especially considering all ive already spent ,and the fact that i already have the iwakis,this sucks. .as with everything else in this setup im trying to think long term though and the energy savings will add up.

ive been working on this tank for two months and all i have is a pile of junk on the kitchen floor

[organicreefer]

oh yeah i forgot,WELCOME TO REEFLAND! i just have to say that since coming here ,the one thing i have learned,is that the other boards suck

[Ltspd]

I will 2nd the ampmasters, I own 2 on my system. I think the most effiecent ph's are maxijets both from power comsuption and realibility.

Not sure if you can use the wattage of the lights as your determining factor. I think you need to look at the amp's used, due to the ballast's.

[SunfishFun]

I feel your pain, man. I'm also in Bay Area and had to deal w/ electric bill. My doom will come when I finally decide on my light setup. I'm just starting out with a 60g and decided to go sumpless, mainly b/c I wanted to avoid that pump.

I'm sure you're sick of hearing it, but is there anywhere else you can cut the juice? Like for me, changing tons of light bulbs and a couple fixtures to compact fluorescents and convincing elderly father to get rid of old freezer hacked our bill in half, so I felt better starting this up. PG&E has some good calculators on their website (not for aquarium stuff.)

While you search for used or reasonably-priced pumps, is there any way to reduce your lighting at all or do some of the sump stuff by hand in order to reduce pumping time?

Sorry I have no good solutions.

[organicreefer]

id like to keep my lighting plan as is i have a 2x175 watt mh,and 1 400 watt halide.both the ballasts are old core and coil type so,ltsp,youre right ill actually be burning more watts.i also have the icecap660 and i think that only draws 280w(saving a little there).of course cant leave out the moonlights.i think the halides are gonna come on and go off staggered so they wont all be on for the whole ten hours either.
finding other places to cut back has pretty much been done,got flourescents in every fixture unplugged the fridge in the garage,now its the tanks turn
thanks for the replies guys,maybe its time to put the iwakis on the chopping block and get new pumps

[platylover]

Organicreefer,

I think you can't afford not to upgrade to an ampmaster. Here is why:

Iwaki 100 380 watts
Ampmaster 127 watts

253 watts savings!

Let's use 250 watts, since the math is easier.

24/7, you are saving 250*24*7=42000 watts or 42kWh/week

From SCE, I'm paying .13 for baseline, .15 for 101-130%baseline, .197 for 131-200%baseline, and .236 for 201-300%baseline

My average charge per kWh is .171

So .17*42kWh = $7.14/week savings or $7.14*52=$371.28 savings a year!!

However, you will probably save even more because any conservation comes out of the highest rates. You would actually be saving

.236*42kWh = $9.91/week or $515.32/year!!

That amount of money is almost enough to pay for TWO ampmasters! Reeffanatic has them at $270.

I suggest that you buy one to replace your iwaki 100. Sell your iwaki 100 on ebay, then consider getting another one to replace the iwaki 70 if it generates enough pressure to power your protein skimmer.

The iwaki 70 definately uses more power(to find the wattage, multiply the amp rating of the motor by the line voltage) than the ampmaster and the 4 802s combined use the same amount of power as an ampmaster.

You can save a load of money if you use two ampmasters to provide all your cirulation needs.

For me, I'm using a LG4MDQXSC @ 155 watts and three maxijet 1000s at 20 watts/each, so the payback for me to upgrade is much longer than yours.

[platylover]

also....

I've also noticed that the maxijet 1200s (295gph)use 20 watts whereas the 900s (230gph) use 8.5 watts.

at petwarehouse you can pick up the 1200 for $15.71 and the 900 for $14.21

If used continuously, the savings per year for me would be

11.5watts*24hours*365days=100.74kWh/year

100.74kWh/year*$0.236/kWh=$23.77/year savings

which can buy another 900 and give me an additional 230 gph to make up for the 65gph difference.