Energy Saving Lights

[ouling]

I am going to put my tank back up in a few weeks and would like to ask some advice on lighting. My old 800W MHI needed a 1/4 chiller and many fans just to cool things down to 84 Degrees. My electric bill use to be $300-400 during the summer with the lights turning on at mid-night. I'm done with that. The Oct meeting made me realize that too much light is just overkill. Anyone know what would be the best energy saving, low heat lamp/s for a 48X18X17H tank with moderately colorful Acropora? I was thinking about getting just one 175W clamp on light and put the light demanding corals under it.

Thanks.

 

[victor626nj]

get the solaris

 

[jetchris]

Sunlight Tek 2 fixture w/ 6 bulbs

 

[skriz]

the funny thing is, with all that power you had less par than you should have. You can still go mh and get the shimmer and what not, but you'll need a good reflector.

Are you still going to put it in the same spot? If so, that would make it a little tough, but maybe still possible. If you get one of the "mini" reflectors, you could easily use a 250w and get some good spread and par.

 

[cameron]

LEDs if you have the cash and T5s if you don't. The new ATI fixtures are throwing monster PAR and while on the mid to high end of the lighting spectrum still a reasonable deal.

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[xyzpdq0121]

Ya I would go with a T5/halide combo with the halides being 2x 250W with good bulbs and good reflectors. You might even be able to fit 4 t5s under your canopy for exta par without the heat. You should have no problem growing SPS under that and a simple canopy fan and sump fan should keep your tank cool. My 55 has 2 175W and 2 T5 and my temp never goes above 81 and when it does the sump fan cools it to 79 pretty quickly. Or you could just go with a 6 x 54W t-5 set up...

 

[cameron]

2x250w without fans and/or a cold house is going to heat up your tank quite a bit if you have a canopy moreso if it isn't an open canopy. Mine would easily go into the mid to high 80s if I didn't keep the house cool and the fans running with my open back canopy. Even my chiller would kick on at 81 from time to time when the outside temps got high.

I personally pay an extra $25-$30 a month in electric costs to run my lighting. I will probably save around $5 per month when I leave MH lighting for T5s in straight costs not counting top off water, chiller power, etc. It doesn't seem like a lot, but at the end of 3 years after you factor in bulb costs amongst other things there is a considerable savings to be had.

 

[ouling]

I think I'm going with the 6-8 bulb t5 fixture. I've heard that they put out just as much heat per PAR or per watt as compared to MHI, is this true?

 

[skriz]

I remember reading somewhere that they put out just as much heat as mh, but it's distributed differently. I would think that that would yield the same results (heat wise) as using MH.

 

[cameron]

MHs are about 70% effecient comapred to T5s which are usually 90% effecient. Simply meaning for every watt consumed by an MH bulb 70% of it goes to light while the other 30% goes to heat. The same wattage T5s will put out more lumens and less heat. MHs compared to incandescent bulbs is pretty impressive, but T5s are even more so. You also get lengthend lifespans, instant on, spectrum shift is not as much of a concern and no hot spots. The downsides of T5s are no shimmer and hotter lamps effect the performance of the bulbs so bulb cooling is important.

Now when you get into PAR that gets a lot fuzzier because bulb selection, ballast, reflector, etc start playing a large role, but in general terms T5s will produce equal light with less heat.

I would estimate (or in more correct terms, guess) roughly 10-20% savings for similar PAR at depths up to 20" in electricity (MHs are still king at punch light down into the depths of a tank). An even bigger savings over time with bulb costs.

 

[ouling]

Yea I got the 400W X 2 because of the depth of my old tank. 17'' deep would be find using only t-5s.

Thanks guys.

 

[dannybradley]

I think you'll like this fixture. We just got one in at the shop. They're preeeety.

 

[victor626nj]

i would waite i heard the current usa is comming out with a nice t5 fixture