BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
LEDS would certainty bring the bill down, but silly to throw a $1000 bucks at something that represents $30 bucks of a $240 dollar bill?
Any ideas on how to save energy on a reef tank system.
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dlp211
New member
It's not just 30 dollars on a bill. Its 30 dollars a month for as long as the tank is operational plus the costs of bulb replacements which are 8-12 months depending on the light fixture.
As I also pointed out, he can easily recoupe some of the costs by selling his old fixture. It's not instant ROI, but it's pretty darn good.
And as many have also pointed out, it would probably cause him to not have to use his chiller any more which in turn leads to a lower bill and he can turn around and sell that as well. This brings the ROI down even more.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
well he has to pay something for lighting, the 30 bucks a month is the total bill, he will cut that down to 15 with leds.
my point is he can reduce his bill for free, his entire tank is consuming about 25% of his total bill, the rest is going to other utilities. Until my tank was the MAJORITY of the bill would i consider reducing the usage of the tank by spending big money on upgrades.. Thats just me.
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BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
400 watts for LED would save him .50 cents every day. lets call it another .25 cents in chiller savings. Lets call it .55 cents for bulb replacements, per day. so thats a total of $1.30 per day in savings, on a 8 dollar per day electricity bill. What does a 400 watt LED system cost? $1000 bucks is generous? whats that, roughly 769 days to break even.. His lighting bill is 8% with MH, 4% with LED's Now if $1000 bucks would save me 40% of my bill, sign me up.
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Sensei ClamMan
New member
Another thought - I wasn't thinking of the power bill when I spent $12K on a fish tank. Sorry, just had to throw that in there.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
where is the like button.
zakk
New member
There's also the thought that it's pretty easy to sell a reef-ready MH ligthing system, which would offset a good portion of the LED cost, no?
dlp211
New member
And once again you ignore the money made by selling his old items. And he would be saving way more then 400 watts, closer to 500-700 watts in lighting alone. And I doubt his kwH is .12. Mine is .15 and most people are between .13-.16. There are a lot of thing to take into account.
I agree that there are other ways to save money on his electric bill. Hell I have a 3500 sq ft house with inground pool, koi pond, and hot tub and my bill is less then his. I also only run the AC in half my house at any given time and keep it at 74 F.
So why shouldn't he put some money into the long term? He should be looking at reducing his bill through habits as well as investments. If I wasn't renting my house right now I would install an on demand water heater as well as some other improvements. The point I am making is that if you plan on being somewhere or running something for more then a year or two, it makes sense to look at investing to lower your bill in the future through investments today.
I agree that there are other ways to save money on his electric bill. Hell I have a 3500 sq ft house with inground pool, koi pond, and hot tub and my bill is less then his. I also only run the AC in half my house at any given time and keep it at 74 F.
So why shouldn't he put some money into the long term? He should be looking at reducing his bill through habits as well as investments. If I wasn't renting my house right now I would install an on demand water heater as well as some other improvements. The point I am making is that if you plan on being somewhere or running something for more then a year or two, it makes sense to look at investing to lower your bill in the future through investments today.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
what would you buy two 400w MH moguls for? how much is a 400 watt LED system off the shelf? i have no idea. my point all along is that the usage of the lights is two small of a percentage to focus on lighting. other things need to change for his $240 dollar electricity bill to come down significantly. 15 bucks a month to go to leds is not significant.
jcolletteiii
New member
You ignore the refrigerator next to his tank. It's only purpose is to keep the water temperature in his tank from cooking his animals. This is directly due to the infrared ovens he has hanging above them. This is also a part of this lighting system.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
I accounted for the refrigerator for the infrared heaters a few posts up lol. Im addressing the original OP question about how to significantly reduce a $240 dollar power bill. The tank isn't the problem, do the math.
Its the constant laundry and the air conditioner. The op is not doing himself any good by spending 1000k net to save 1.30 per day on a 8.00 per day power bill. He needs to save 4 dollars a day. the miracle LED and no chiller is not going to get him down to 4 dollars a day, not even close. Change in habits around the house is first, once thats done, then worry about the 1.25 per day he is spending on lighting and cooling his tank. He can save half his bill by reducing the AC load and the hot water usage. Once again, read up a few posts where i gave the OP tricks on reducing power for FREE. once thats all done, then worry about reducing the lighting buy a buck a day.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
i completly agree on investing in long term savings plans. i just think before you invest anything, you tighten up what you got as best as possible, then start spending money for the long haul. if the OP has a 20 year old fridge, he is better of buying a energy star fridge then a new lighting system for the tank.
Not wanting to stir the pot or cross any of the good fellow hobbyists here but I have to ask cause I just do not get it and never have.
Purely an example.....
TANK 1500.00
LIGHTING 1200.00
CHILLER 500.00
RETURN 200.00
POWER HEADS 200.00
SKIMMER 500.00
CONTROLLER 150.00
MISC ADD ONs 200.00
Add in monthly/yearly misc. cost plus what we spend on corals/fish..............
Then worry about a few hundred on the electric each year?
Again no disrespect but help me understand?
Purely an example.....
TANK 1500.00
LIGHTING 1200.00
CHILLER 500.00
RETURN 200.00
POWER HEADS 200.00
SKIMMER 500.00
CONTROLLER 150.00
MISC ADD ONs 200.00
Add in monthly/yearly misc. cost plus what we spend on corals/fish..............
Then worry about a few hundred on the electric each year?
Again no disrespect but help me understand?
zakk
New member
If you could spend $1 a gallon for gasoline, why would you spend $3 a gallon for the same result, even if you were driving a $100,000 car.
Were can I get the $1 gallon gas?, HELL, even $3, ain't bad!...and BTW...how did you know how much I wanted for Lambo?
Mine are in canopy...DIYs done by the previous owner of the tank. I do not run antinic supplements at all, I am using dual node bulbs which give me my 10K for growth and 20k for viewing. I also have my lights staggered across the tank (turning on and off times), so the tank gets 12 hours of light, but bulbs are only on for 8 hours.
So my total cost for running my MHs is roughly $25 a month. I do have a clip on fan installed in the canopy, and I keep a window AC unit in the room, to ensure that the room does not get over 79degrees. It doesn't run much accept when it is blazing hot outside. The normal AC in the house does fine with reaonsable weather.
That's it.
James77
Team RC
Plenty of ways!
. LEDs...I fought them for a while, but after just switching, I love the way they look. I am going to build another DIY fixture with the lessons I have learned and with different colors. I expected them to be dim and blah looking....but they are bright as any halides I have used and look even better. More shimmer than halides as well. You can get all the PAR you need from LEDs, and that will most likely eliminate the need for a chiller. The Vortech is great for you....efficient and almost no heat. Look for an even more efficeint skimmer than you have. I just switched to a skimz sk181 cone that uses 12 watts of power. Less electric and less heat. Same for the calcium reactor, I use dosings so there is almost no electric usage. Use a kill a watt and get a more efficint reactor, maybe an Eheim one.
Maybe a different return with a manifold to power the reactors instead of individual pumps? (assuming they are individual)
My 120g tank uses about $16 per month right now. Most is from the Velocity T2 pump I rn for its silence. It adds heat, but my heaters almost never run right now...so it is a wash. I could easily use a water blaster and drop another $5 or $6 off the bill, but then Id have noise and my heater would need to run momre. The Leds cut the electric use by about $8/month from already efficient high PAR 175s halides.
In the winter I will use glass tops to trap heat and simply up the LEDs by 10% to compensate for glass losses.
You could probably cut that bill by 50-75% with what I and others have listed.
James77
Team RC
Soem have mentioned open top as well, and they are right, it greatly reduces heat. Without running my halides with my wood canopy, I was hitting 85-86* on hot days here. Taking it off and even with the LEDs on for the full time, the tank struggle to stay at 78. I used the clear mesh netting with retro screen frames to keep fish in and the cat out.
reefslugs
Active member
Wow I can't believe I am getting so many replies. Thanks every one! There's a lot of things going through my head right now. I am not new to the hobby. I have had a fish tank since I was nine. I am now forty one years old. I have had a salt water tank for seventeen years now. When I set up my latest tank there was no such things as LED. Power compacts were the big thing.
As of now, the LED thing is not going to happen. Way to much money right off the bat. And like power compacts, they may fade away. I'm going to stick with what has always worked for me. MH.
I tried something different this weekend. I turned off my T5's. I changed my MH from Hamilton 10k's with the T5's actinic to only Reeflux 12k's to make up the difference in color. My chiller only came on once today.
Someone ask me if I'm using glass tops. Oh no! But I do have a canopy on top of the tank.
Here is my tank.
As of now, the LED thing is not going to happen. Way to much money right off the bat. And like power compacts, they may fade away. I'm going to stick with what has always worked for me. MH.
I tried something different this weekend. I turned off my T5's. I changed my MH from Hamilton 10k's with the T5's actinic to only Reeflux 12k's to make up the difference in color. My chiller only came on once today.
Someone ask me if I'm using glass tops. Oh no! But I do have a canopy on top of the tank.
Here is my tank.
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