Solaris Led lighting systems

[Amphibious]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8951326#post8951326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmkins
jnb - nice tank shots. What were you running before the solaris and how was your growth?

Sorry if I'm being redundant but I made it about 5 pages backwards in this thread and gave up hope, but how have corals (in particular sps) been reacting to the LEDs? Also how have electric bills been after the change, especially those that went from MH to LED.

TIA

jmkins,

You're not being redundant at all. It's difficult and rather boring to search backward in a long thread to get to some particular information you're after. From it's original intent, this thread has taken a drastic turn toward DIY, which is an interesting topic but needs it's own thread.

There are pics of coral growth back aways, here's a link to page 10 - PAGE 10
And some more pics on - PAGE 20
You will get an idea of coral growth under the LEDs. I'm very satisfied with the results I'm getting.

I'm sending you a PM.

 

[underpar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8939250#post8939250 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steadyhand
I'm very interested in a 36" Solaris - does anyone know where I can purchase one for a reasonable price? Even a percentage discount off of retail would be nice?

Thanks for the help,

Rich

Hi Rich,

Try http://www.theculturedreef.com/. They offered free shipping prior to the end of the year. Perhaps you might still be able to get in on that deal. Dick is very friendly and provides great service.

Good luck, Fred

 

[BeanAnimal]

jnb,

Could you please explain how you think switching from MH to LEDs is going to save $50-$80 a month?

We spent a lot of time on this several pages back and I think (and can show) it should be ovious that those savings are just not realistic when replacing ~500W of lighting with ~475W of lighting (or ~250W) even if the 500W is pure heat and the ~250 defies physics and creates no heat.

The simplicity of the problem seems to keep getting lost in the fact that the LEDs do not appear to put as much heat into the WATER.

Once again, if you would be kind enough to let us know exaclty what you unplugged, and exactly what you have replaced it with... we can make a determination of the realistic savings. Also, if you are so inclined, let us know the total kWh of your average electric bill and the TOTAL kWh rate.

 

[jnb]

no.

 

[owsi]

Its amazing, I dropped my temp to 77 last night after installing the AQ III, my heaters are still coming on ( not as much ), have the house at 75. I guess that my electric during summer will be down about $100 or more a month in June, July and August. The AC just tried to keep up with the chiller and MH last year, can't wait, lol. Side note, its fun watching the pH fluctuate 1 or 2 hundredths when the clouds go over, never thought about how much light affects pH in the daytime.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Then that is settled... the savings you hope to gain are not realistic by any measure.

Notice again that we have come full circle. Yet another new person to this thread has asked a question with regards to ENERGY SAVINGS. They have been given an answer from an apparently qualified source and will take it to the bank (pun). Yet the reality is that the answer (regarding forecasted energy savings) is simply not supported by the reality of the situation.

So the question is jnb, do you want to participate in providing realistic information, or do you favor silencing any of us who disagree with the rather unrealistic information you have provided?

Thanks for your cooperation (or lack of), one way or another it has yielded enough information to allow others to get a better understanding of what is going on here.

 

[scuba4ever]

No

...lol I have been following this thread for about 30 pages...that has to be the quote of the month...Thanks Nick

 

[Zoom]

Ok all of you lets talk some savings for me .
I need a 72" led hood .
I don't have a chiller. I use three 250W 10K xm and two 96W pc the XM are power by IC ballast . I have full sps tank and need to have the Power to keep them growing. My Electric bill was $154 last month i don' know what i pay per KW But it is what beanAnimal post in this thread for South NJ.

 

[Zoom]

DP

 

[jnb]

bh

bh

 

[jnb]

thank you

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8954576#post8954576 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuba4ever
...lol I have been following this thread for about 30 pages...that has to be the quote of the month...Thanks Nick

 

[jnb]

cmm

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8954870#post8954870 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
Ok all of you lets talk some savings for me .
I need a 72" led hood .
I don't have a chiller. I use three 250W 10K xm and two 96W pc the XM are power by IC ballast . I have full sps tank and need to have the Power to keep them growing. My Electric bill was $154 last month i don' know what i pay per KW But it is what beanAnimal post in this thread for South NJ.

 

[BeanAnimal]

JNB you do not need to "run any experiments", as I stated, we can do some fairly accurate calculation without ANY of that data.

All we really need to know is what wattage you had and how many hours a day it ran. We can compare that to the new lamp and how many hours a day it runs.

Seeing that your AC unit and Chiller were built in the last 50 years, we can make some pretty good assumptions about their operation.

I illustrated earlier that modeling the MH setup as a 100% heater and the LED setup as a non heat source will still not generate that kind of difference, even with the AC and chiller running inefficiently to remove the heat from that 500W MH 'heater'. In other words worst case still does not generate that much of a difference between before and after energy usage.

I do not feel you are being dishonest or trying to exaggerate. I also do not feel like you are trying to mislead anybody. However, I do feel that you are been as confrontational as possible with regards to my posts as well as having ignored the information that has been previously provided and posted. I feel that you and several others are more concerned with conveying personal feelings than you are the truth.

I have offered to help you and others understand the energy consumption and possible real world energy savings of these devices. However, you and several others have chosen to either ignore the information and/or professed not to care. In both cases that is your right.

However, as long as misinformation is being conveyed (on accident or on purpose), I am sure somebody in-the-know will step in to clarify it.

You have added value to the thread with your personal experiences regarding the look and feel of the fixture and feedback on its operation. However, you can not just assume that your personal feelings and observations, and those others that YOU agree with are the only items of value.

A small group of you who thinks somewhat alike has decided that this is YOUR thread and only YOUR information is worthy of comment. That is unfortunate.

Instead of looking at everything as an arguement, you guys may want to try to approach it as a conversation.

 

[BeanAnimal]

DP = double post...

some rough calculations coming up...

ZOOM:

What is your currnet photoperiod for each set of lights?

Does your heater run now and how often? How many watts is your heater? What is your average tank temp?

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8954316#post8954316 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Then that is settled... the savings you hope to gain are not realistic by any measure.

Notice again that we have come full circle....

Hee hee Why not just let it go? It is hardly settled, people just don't seem to want to play...

 

[BeanAnimal]

No crumbletop, it is not that they do not "want to play". Rather they want the freedom to post without being questioned.

Also notice that YOU purposefully or not have now entered the fray and taken sides, fanned the flames, or whatever you want to call it.

Are we going to talk about the lights and energy usage (that NOW TWO people have asked about in the last page?) or are we going to debate if we SHOULD "let it go"?

As I said, we have come full circle, and this has almost become farcical with to the pattern starting to develop.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Anyway ZOOM:

You have no chiller so we do not have to calcuate any savings due to tank heating (or do we?...)

So you have:
(3) @ 250W
(2) @ 96W

So lets call it 1000W when all the lights are on. Lets assume you run that way 10 hours a day. That give you 10kWh a day or 300kWh a month for the MH usage.

Lets assume the .11 a kWh average rate in NJ. So it costs you $1.10 a day to run the MH and ACTINICS or $33 a month.

Now you are going to replace all of that lighting with a 450W SOLARIS. Lets assume you are going to run it 10 hours a day full tilt. You have SPS and do need a decent amount of light.

So that gives you 4.5kWh a day or 135 kWh a month. The cost is $14.85 a month to run.

So the base difference is $18.15 a month. That is what you would save with an apples to apples comparision.

BUT (you knew it was coming!). You do not run a chiller now and I would guess you run a heater sometimes to keep the tank temp from large swings. Without the MH helping to heat the tank, your heaters may run substantially more! In other words, real world that $18.15 may be more like $10.00-$12.00 a month in savings for you.

You never said anything about AC. Also note that this is assuming the SOLARIS will provide enough light as a drop in replacement for the (3) 250W MH and 200W of suppliment.

With all of that in consideration. You can project your bulb replacement costs out and see how long it will take to break even and start saving real money.

Remember you have aleady invested in hardware and you have to count that cost. If you sell it, then you can obv subtract the difference. If you toss it on the shelf, then that WHOLE cost gets factored in as well (most people do not take this into consideration when they upgrade something to "save" money).

Bean

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8955702#post8955702 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
As I said, we have come full circle, and this has almost become farcical with to the pattern starting to develop.

No need to debate if you should let it go. It was merely a suggestion. It was farcical a couple of pages ago...

 

[Zoom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8955210#post8955210 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
DP = double post...

some rough calculations coming up...

ZOOM:

What is your currnet photoperiod for each set of lights?

Does your heater run now and how often? How many watts is your heater? What is your average tank temp?

Well i run my MH for 7 hours and the PC for 12 i do have a heater 300W and i keep my temp at 77-78 F.
I run all German system Pumps skimmer reactors (exempt the Light hood) and it is very easy on my Electric bill the AC runs at 73F in the summer and the electric bill is about $245 a month in the average .
I did saw a SOLARIS hood it makes a mix reef look very nice .
I don't know if it has the " punch" to keep all of my SPS in good growing order i'm not talking about low Light SPS that you can keep them even under PC .
I have many bright colored SPS and clams and did try a Hamilton 14K 250 W bulb with the IC ballast and all my bright colored SPS did not like the lower Par of that bulb at PPFD of 63 the 14K was not strong enough for them i had to go back to XM with over 115 PPFD to get them to color back up .
That is the only thing i was worry about with the SOLARIS do they have what it takes to keep my SPS happy . I know they coming up with stronger LEDs soon so i may have to wait.
By the way i pay .14 KWh :eek2:

 

[BeanAnimal]

765W @ 7 hours = 5.35 kWh per day
200W @ 12 hours = 2.4 kWh per day

Total 7.75 kWh per day being replaced by 4.5 kWh per day (assuming 10 hours full on for the SPS, and ignoring the lower wattage for the other 2 hours).

So the net savings is 3.25 kWh per day @ .14 cents = $0.455 a day in savings or, $13.65 a month.

I honestly do not think the single SOLARIS will have enough output, even at 10 hours of full brightness. I could be very wrong.

With regards to the AC. Because you DO NOT run a chiller, the HEAT difference between the current setup and the new setup will be 3.25kWh worth of "heat" that the AC will have to account for. Your house is not a perfect insulator and a good portion of that heat will escape on it's own. But to be fair lets say it takes 1.5 Watts of AC to remove 1 Watt of heat. So in the summer time you in theory could save 4.875 kWh a day + the initial 3.25 watts. That is a total 8.125 kWh a day or a TOTAL MAX SAVINGS OF $34 a month worst case during the days that the AC runs.

Again real world it will be much less than that. But lets just say $34 for 4 months and 13.65 for 8 months would average out to around $20 a month BEST CASE SAVINGS. Real world, your looking at $14-$16.

Not bad if you can get enough light. If you feel like going further we can calculate all of the costs. What you PAID for all of the current stuff and how much you think you can sell it for.