Hi Melev,
I've seen your posts and tanks and was wanting your opinion regarding my lighting options. I currently have a 180-gallon 72" x 24" x 24" tank.
The two options i am looking at are:
1) 3 X 250w MH Lumenbright Mini Wide with 12,000K Reeflux bulbs.
2) 3 X 175w MH (same as above)
These thoughts are what i am taking into consideration.
1) Electricity is about $0.23 kWh + fuel adjustment = approximately $0.24 kWh - $0.30 kWh.
This is what i care about the most.
2) Heat - I'm trying to run my tank with as little equipment as possible, ie. if I can stay away from a chiller or fans, I will be over the moon.
I don't have a hood on the tank. I want to hang the lights above the tank in pendants.
Does a 250w produce way more heat then the 175w bulb?
What you think?
Help please.
Dru
I've seen your posts and tanks and was wanting your opinion regarding my lighting options. I currently have a 180-gallon 72" x 24" x 24" tank.
The two options i am looking at are:
1) 3 X 250w MH Lumenbright Mini Wide with 12,000K Reeflux bulbs.
2) 3 X 175w MH (same as above)
These thoughts are what i am taking into consideration.
1) Electricity is about $0.23 kWh + fuel adjustment = approximately $0.24 kWh - $0.30 kWh.
This is what i care about the most.
2) Heat - I'm trying to run my tank with as little equipment as possible, ie. if I can stay away from a chiller or fans, I will be over the moon.
I don't have a hood on the tank. I want to hang the lights above the tank in pendants.
Does a 250w produce way more heat then the 175w bulb?
What you think?
Help please.
Dru
Yes, they will add more heat since they uses more wattage, but the pendants do a great job of keeping the heat above the tank and off the water's surface. They hang up higher so you don't have to worry about direct heat transfer, owing to the glass shield and vent slits in the painted housing.
One or two IceCap 120mm fans blowing across the surface will easily keep the aquarium chiller-free, with very low wattage use. You'll want to put those fans on a timer to turn them on for the exact amount of hours needed, and no longer. Otherwise the tank may run too cool during the night or early in the morning, which would turn on the heaters - using more power again and again. Try to find that sweet spot and power the fans only when they are needed, reducing the frequency that the heaters have to kick on and you'll be saving power every day. Your monthly electric bill will reflect that greener-thinking too.
Mathematically, let's look at the difference with your electric bill, based on the numbers you provided. If you ran each bulb for 7 hours a day:
3 x 250w: 750w per hour, or 5.25 kWh daily. At $0.26, it would cost $1.37 daily or $40.95 per month.
3 x 175w: 525w per hour, or 3.68 kWh daily. At $0.26, it would cost $0.96 daily or $28.71 per month.
2 IceCap fans use 12w of power, or about $0.94 per month at 10 hours a day.
Thus, you can expect your lighting and fans to cost less than $45 a month even where your electricity rates are quite high. You won't need a chiller, which saves around 600-800w per hour on average. I live in Texas where we have very hot summers and we have to factor in humidity. In all the time I've been in the hobby, I've never needed a chiller on my tanks. (Admittedly, my 280-gallon reef is in a fish room which has its own air conditioner unit to keep the room at 74° to 76° F, which costs $34 monthly each summer. You can read more about that power usage here.)
For your tank, you could use 175w bulbs if you like. You will have more choices with 250w bulbs, but it will cost you $147 more per year. If you can afford it, that is.
Happy reefing,
Marc
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