Real Cost Savings of LED vs MH/T5

[aquaenthusiast]

+1

$10/month, $20 month or even more is negligible when you consider this hobby is an excess right off the bat. There are many more effective ways to save cash in the hobby and in life than tracking light electrical usage.

+1 This is what I have been thinking allll along.....
I think if you can get your main pumps whether they be dc or whatever to the lowest wattage that you can while still providing sufficient flow/needs then call it a day and enjoy watching your corals instead of spending hours trying to figure out which led is better epistar or bridgelux blah blah

 

[mussel and hate]

You'll save a ton in the summer. Every extra watt compounds when you have to refrigerate to compensate. It becomes particularly costly when you employ a chiller in an air conditioned environment.

 

[mussel and hate]

Of course it is....but the heat imparted to a tank is detracting from the total cost of running halides. Running LEDs may have a heater running more often, and adds to the total cost of running them.

That's a better argument for running inefficient submersible pumps. Pumps heat the water more directly than any lighting.

 

[d2mini]

It becomes particularly costly when you employ a chiller in an air conditioned environment.

Why is this?
Wouldn't the AC help cool?

In my case, my hvac keeps my south texas home at 70-72 degrees year round.
My problem is that i do need a chiller to drop the temp a few degrees in the summer because i have a lot of water volume in sumps in my garage.

 

[Dashiki]

I don't care about $100/year in this hobby.

I care about if the $3000 in SPS are coloring up and growing as quickly as possible in large colonies without any shading. Not saying that LED can't do this but the cost saving of LED power usage is on the far bottom of my list of priorities.

I got flamed for saying this in a thread the other day.

I have run the numbers and it doesn't matter what light you use. With metal halide there is an annual cost but with led there is a huge up front cost. Even with bulb changes it takes three years to break even on led. There is no savings.

 

[reefermad619]

In Southern California you'd definitly feel the saving! My heaters only run in dec, jan, and feb. In the summer we do get some hot days, but my tank never goes over 81. These threads make me sick so to see how much our power company Fs us in SoCal. If my power cost was the same as your, I'd run halides all day! Now mods please close this thread so my Nausea goes away!

 

[James77]

That's a better argument for running inefficient submersible pumps. Pumps heat the water more directly than any lighting.

But pumps run 24/7...lighting only runs 6-10 hours a day.

The entire energy usage of a tank should be taken into consideration if you are trying to save money.

 

[James77]

These threads make me sick so to see how much our power company Fs us in SoCal. If my power cost was the same as your, I'd run halides all day! Now mods please close this thread so my Nausea goes away!

Would you rather the 6 inches of icy slush I have outside right now?

 

[James77]

Why is this?
Wouldn't the AC help cool?

In my case, my hvac keeps my south texas home at 70-72 degrees year round.
My problem is that i do need a chiller to drop the temp a few degrees in the summer because i have a lot of water volume in sumps in my garage.

The AC cools...but a chiller works by pulling heat out of a tank and putting it elsewhere...usually into the room it is in. You would need a more powerful AC to overcome the heat of a chiller.

 

[Bpb]

Lol my 55 gallon costs $18 a month in electricity and I use T5 lighting. I'm switching to LEDs for color reasons mainly. Monthly cost is fairly irrelevant at such low numbers. That cost I posted is total. With all equipment not just lights

 

[reefermad619]

Would you rather the 6 inches of icy slush I have outside right now?

Heck no!!! We have a slight heave wave going on in San Diego right now. It was about 75 today at my house.

 

[d2mini]

The AC cools...but a chiller works by pulling heat out of a tank and putting it elsewhere...usually into the room it is in. You would need a more powerful AC to overcome the heat of a chiller.

Ah, right.
My chiller is in the garage. No AC. haha

Lol my 55 gallon costs $18 a month in electricity and I use T5 lighting. I'm switching to LEDs for color reasons mainly. Monthly cost is fairly irrelevant at such low numbers. That cost I posted is total. With all equipment not just lights

You there. Leave thread. Now.

 

[Bpb]

Lol truth be told I was surprised at the cost, but I don't run a chiller, and my bubble magus skimmer only draws 8 watts. Those are big areas of savings. My heater is almost never on as well. Only return pump powers all reactors. It's a fairly low power tank. Just calculated it all this evening before seeing this thread. What an appropriate place to brag.

My experience aside, I agree. LEDs are not a significant money saving endeavor. I think people should get the lighting they want and they can afford. Not what will save them $10 a month.

 

[gveng]

For the sake of an argument, let's ignore all the other equipment in your tank and just focus on lighting.

How often do you change your mh/t5 bulbs? Before I switched to leds I would change bulbs every 11-12 months.

If I ran your lighting set up I would have to change 3 mh bulbs and 6 t5 bulbs each year.

Radium 250w bulbs $80.00 x 3 = $240
Ati t5 bulbs $20 x 6 = $120

How often do you change leds? 5-10 years?

Thus, the more realistic cost of using mh/t5's should be.

Radion Pros = $94.50/year
MH/T5 = $189 + $360 = $549/year

That's a $454.50 difference!

 

[rtparty]

For the sake of an argument, let's ignore all the other equipment in your tank and just focus on lighting.

How often do you change your mh/t5 bulbs? Before I switched to leds I would change bulbs every 11-12 months.

If I ran your lighting set up I would have to change 3 mh bulbs and 6 t5 bulbs each year.

Radium 250w bulbs $80.00 x 3 = $240
Ati t5 bulbs $20 x 6 = $120

How often do you change leds? 5-10 years?

Thus, the more realistic cost of using mh/t5's should be.

Radion Pros = $94.50/year
MH/T5 = $189 + $360 = $549/year

That's a $454.50 difference!

Halides can easily go 18 months with most lasting 24. People change them out way too early most of the time.

Since the T5s are just supplements in this case, 16-18 months is pretty doable as well.

There is a good majority of LED users that are on their second set of LEDs in less than a couple years. You see people switching brands, clusters, and other things all the time. You see them adding t5 supplements as well. So now you've got those costs too.

In Dennis' case here, he could easily have $3,000 invested in his LEDs. How much would the halide setup cost? $500? $1000 at the most? Even with your math from above it could take 4+ years to make up that difference. By that point, 9 out of 10 hobbyists will either have left the hobby or changed equipment.

So, it's all really just playing the "maybe" and "what if" game.

 

[jgalen0025]

Halides can easily go 18 months with most lasting 24. People change them out way too early most of the time.

Since the T5s are just supplements in this case, 16-18 months is pretty doable as well.

There is a good majority of LED users that are on their second set of LEDs in less than a couple years. You see people switching brands, clusters, and other things all the time. You see them adding t5 supplements as well. So now you've got those costs too.

In Dennis' case here, he could easily have $3,000 invested in his LEDs. How much would the halide setup cost? $500? $1000 at the most? Even with your math from above it could take 4+ years to make up that difference. By that point, 9 out of 10 hobbyists will either have left the hobby or changed equipment.

So, it's all really just playing the "maybe" and "what if" game.

+1 most people oonly last a couple years in this hobby and when the next led tech comes out that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that it colors all sps and is plug and play like t5or mh then everyone will be upgrading again making any cost savings negligent

 

[clay12340]

Halides can easily go 18 months with most lasting 24. People change them out way too early most of the time.

Since the T5s are just supplements in this case, 16-18 months is pretty doable as well.

There is a good majority of LED users that are on their second set of LEDs in less than a couple years. You see people switching brands, clusters, and other things all the time. You see them adding t5 supplements as well. So now you've got those costs too.

In Dennis' case here, he could easily have $3,000 invested in his LEDs. How much would the halide setup cost? $500? $1000 at the most? Even with your math from above it could take 4+ years to make up that difference. By that point, 9 out of 10 hobbyists will either have left the hobby or changed equipment.

So, it's all really just playing the "maybe" and "what if" game.

I think you're using a pretty poor comparison here. You're setting up one technology using bare bones value products and then comparing it to a relatively high end unit from the other technology.

I don't think someone spending $3k on an LED lighting rig is going to spend $500 to light a 7' tank with halides. You could easily spend that same $3k on halide/T5 combo lighting. Neither option is exactly cheap when you're looking at the really nice quality fit and finish equipment.

When you're comparing similar tier fixtures what is the actual price difference between LEDs and halides?

 

[James77]

To light a 7 foot tank with high end halide lighting:

3 Lumenbrights: $450
3 Luamtek Ballasts: $400
3 Radiums: $240

I would do a ReefBrite LED supplemental strip for the above....so add another $400 for a couple strips. I don't think I could spend $3,000 or more on a halide setup if I tried.

 

[d2mini]

I would do a ReefBrite LED supplemental strip for the above....

Is that what people are doing these days instead of T5 supplementation?

I don't think I could spend $3,000 or more on a halide setup if I tried.

For in canopy, i doubt it.
But i guess if you were looking for a nice AIO unit to hang over a rimless tank, then you can really spend some coin on a nice German light unit.

 

[rtparty]

I think you're using a pretty poor comparison here. You're setting up one technology using bare bones value products and then comparing it to a relatively high end unit from the other technology.

I don't think someone spending $3k on an LED lighting rig is going to spend $500 to light a 7' tank with halides. You could easily spend that same $3k on halide/T5 combo lighting. Neither option is exactly cheap when you're looking at the really nice quality fit and finish equipment.

When you're comparing similar tier fixtures what is the actual price difference between LEDs and halides?

Right in the original post, it sounds to me like it would be a retro setup. You can find high end, quality halide stuff for cheap right now.

So I think the $1000 price range is pretty reasonable. You got a few hundred in ballasts, a few hundred in bulbs and then reflectors.

Sure, you could go with a Gmann unit and spend a bunch but that wasn't mentioned originally.

Aqua Medic makes a pretty good fixture and you could go with them and not spend half what you would on some good LEDs. Sorry, I don't consider Chinese knock off lights to be "good" fixtures.