Lighting Choices and Energy Efficiency

[bigploch]

I am currently experiencing high energy bills related to my tank. I run 2 175 watt MH and 2 48" T12s. I am contemplating switching to a 8 or 12 bulb t5 fixture and eliminating the MH fixtures. The question is whether or not the energy savings would be worthwhile for the purchase. Also, is there any other way to cut energy usage from the tank? Below is a list of energy using items on 110 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump.

2 Hamilton Metal Halide 175 watt Pendants
1 Two Bulb T12 48" Florescent fixture
2 Koralia 3 Powerheads
2 Koralia 2 Powerheads
1 Mag7 Return Pump
1 Reef Octopus NWB-200 Skimmer
2 CFL bulbs with clip on fixtures for algae scrubber
1 300 watt heater
1 150 watt heater

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

i watt is a watt no matter what you use..

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep, a 175 watt MH bulb will use the same amount of electricity as 175 watts of T5s. If you are going to use 48" T5 bulbs, those are 54 watts apiece. So it would take roughly 3 of those (or 3 1/2 if you want to be picky) to equal the amount of energy that your 175 watt MH bulb uses.

So if you eliminate the two MH bulbs and replace them with 6 T5 bulbs, you are using the same amount of electricity. If you replace the two MH bulbs with anything more than 6 T5 bulbs, you are using more electricity than if you had just stayed with the MH.

 

[Bifferwine]

Probably the easiest way to cut back on your power bill is to decrease your photoperiod. If you run your lights for 12 hours a day now, cut back to 8. That will cut the amount of energy you are spending on your lights by a third right there.

 

[bjohanson1234]

+1 biff and knuckle

You could try switching the T12's out for T5's. T5's in general give more light per watt than T12's. But if it is just recently that the bills are high, it could be the heaters are kicking on more now since it is colder out. Also, if you and the family are staying in more because of the weather, you use more electricity since you need lights on because the sun sets so much earlier right now.

 

[bigploch]

Huh, I could have sworn everyone has told me that using a florescent fixture would use less energy. More specifically a florescent fixture generates less heat than a MH fixture and therefore uses less energy.

See the info from GE
http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#difference
IE a florescent watt is not equal to an incandescent watt. Does the same apply to MH.
http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#difference

 

[Bifferwine]

That link says:

In case you're curious, here are the watts needed by regular incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light.

A watt is a measure of the electricity used. So some bulbs will produce more light than another -- i.e. a 10 watt incandescent bulb puts out a lot less light than a 10 watt CFL bulb. But both of them are still using 10 watts of power.

You just get more bang for your buck with one of them.

 

[bjohanson1234]

That is just saying that a 10w cfl produces the same amount of light as a 40w incandecent. So to get the same amount of light, you are using 25% of the energy.

If you took a 40w cfl and a 40w incandecent, they use the same amount of electricity but the cfl would be brighter since it more efficiently converts the energy into light.

So if you have 350w of t5's over your tank or 350w of MH over you tank, you are using the same amount of power. T5's and MH from what I understand, are very similar in the amount of light they put off per watt. Especially if the T5's have individual reflectors.

 

[Bifferwine]

T5's and MH from what I understand, are very similar in the amount of light they put off per watt. Especially if the T5's have individual reflectors.

This is true.

 

[BASH2165]

Try putting youre koralias on timers thats alot of flow and maybe cut lighting TIme

 

[bigploch]

A watt is a measure of the electricity used. So some bulbs will produce more light than another

So the wattage is the amount of electricity used, not the amount of light the fixture puts out. I see.

So basically the only way to reduce the amount of energy used is to turn things off. That's disappointing as they are deregulating electric around here and costs are supposed to go through the roof.

If things go as high as they are saying (increases up to 40%). I may have to downsize or put the tank on hold for a while. I hear these baby things are expensive. 10 grand a year for daycare alone. Hmmmmm......

 

[yote]

Heres something to try.
Cut the time your halides are on.4 hours a day would probably be plenty for your corals.
You could set you Koralias on timers so that a couple of em cut off when the lights go out.

You got a new frag on the way Big?
I just noticed the part about daycare.:D

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

i only run my metal halides 6 hours a day.

 

[bigploch]

yup. she is due in june. 1st one. :)

 

[yote]

yup. she is due in june. 1st one. :)

Congratulations:Cheers:

 

[bigploch]

Halides are already down to 4hrs a day. Actinics are down to 6. Not sure what else to do.

Any sugesstions on how to add 4 timers to my powerheads?

 

[ccCapt]

Koralia's use very little electricity. IMO, it's not worth the few cents in savings by cutting the flow in your tank. A K-3 uses a whole 6.5 watts and a K-2 uses a whopping 4.5 watts. How many pennies do you think you will save by shutting them down?

 

[bigploch]

True cc. Thanks.

And on a side note that was one hell of a whoopin your flyers put on my Pens the other day.