Reef tank running costs.
If you can see a way to cut down my running costs, let me know.
Not quite 100% accurate, but gives you an idea of what it costs to run a large reef tank. Most of the cost here will have to be met by the average reefer, but might be slightly different for every tank.
If I ran a refugium (ignoring the cost of the over flow and setup), I might need to dose iron, to get the algae to grow. Add the electrical cost of lighting the refugium, and bulb changes, it might cost more, than my G.F.O.
My T5 lights uses 410 watts of power. An L.E.D setup might uses 360 watts of power, so not much saving.
A 5% water change, is far cheaper than testing and dosing, individual elements.