T5 lighting

T

thysrof

Active member
I've been reading about T5 lighting. I run 2 250watt halides with 2 54 watt T5's.

I'm wondering how much the T5's would actually save. I would guess I would be running 6x54 watt t5's or 8x54watt t5's. Regardless of the total watts people seem to say they save significantly more than halides. Is anyone running a T5 only setup. It was interesting to read that the T5's can be so powerfull that you gotta be careful of bleaching especially the LPS's.
 
I run T5s only over my lps tank and I've had to cut back from 6 bulbs to 4 because of bleaching lps. My lps tank though is only 12" top to bottom and there's only 9.5 inches of water from the top of the sandbed to the water surface. For lps, with a tank that shallow, T5s are sufficient.

Personally, I wouldn't even consider running T5 only on my sps tank. It's 2.5 times deeper and sps want and need way more light.

Even 8 54w T5s would still total 432w, and your 2 250s total 500w. So you'd be saving 68 watts, which is marginal in my opinion. Sure, every watt you don't use in that 3rd pricing tier saves some money. If you're really concerned, get a much shallower tank and use LEDs. That's the most energy efficient lighting system going.

I personally think you'd save WAY more money cutting back on air conditioning than on reef tank lighting.

I run 2 400w halides plus 2 54w T5s on the sps tank and 4 54w T5s on my lps tank for a total of (400*2)+(54*6) = 1124w. What's that, like 516w more than your 250*2 + 54*2 = 608? Almost double the wattage for lights, and yet my entire PGE bill for last month for my whole house was $292, and that includes gas!

To me it seems as though you might be attributing too much power consumption to your reef lighting when something else is sucking as much if not more juice. Just my opinion.

And shouldn't your new solar system be making this all a moot point anyway?
 
Remember granny unit and swimming pool pump. I know the Solar will help,just haven't scene my first bill yet. The billing period ends at the end of the month. I don't have a chiller and my AC is a high efficent tri-zone system. I'm just trying to save on the electricity. I"ve been looking into the variable speed pumps for the swimming pool their supposed to really save a lot.

I also learned PG&E needs to come out and certify and install a special meter to monitor the pay back on excess electricity. They are 30-40 business days backlogged to do so. Actually I have a fully operational solar system,but I'm not supposed to turn it on until they take their sweet *** time and come out and certify it.

Heck there so screwed up you have to wait 30-40 minutes to speak to a PG&E rep on the phone and owe I sent an email to them a couple of weeks ago and it took a week to get a response.
 
Bob I didn't know you had to wait for those jerks to start your system thats rediculous. Let us know how it goes as far as bill and dealing with PG&E. Also you would definitely save with the T-5's because they put out a lot less heat except for maybe the blue+ bulbs from geissman which in my tank seem to really add a lot of heat but I'm not sure you will have enough light even with the 8 bulb setup for your acros
 
Who said someone didn't accidentally leave the system on.

here's the concept,When you're using energy in the upper teirs and you cut your usage a little bit it has a big difference on the cost of usage. Everyone seems to say it only costs" to run your tank" but the truth is it depends on what your usage is before setting up your tank and look out if you buy a hot tub or some other high energy usage device.

I'm just always looking to save a watt here and there. If you actually eliminate usage in an upper tier it saves huge. I may be wrong but it sounds like T5's use a heck of a lot less than halides,watt for watt
 
You guys should check out Advanced Aquarist Magazine article "LED Lighting Tests: Aquaillumination, Blue Moon, Eco-Lamp KR-91, Ecoxotic Panorama". There are more choices now. I currently am using Aquaillumination. Here's example of acropora valida. 2nd picture of the same coral 6 months earlier.
 

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Again, if you're serious about reducing your reef oriented electrical consumption, get a shallow tank and light it with LEDs. Then you'll save some watts and money in the long run.

Also again, AC and chillers use SO much energy that I'd start there if I were trying to reduce my PGE bill.

And if energy usage is really an issue for you, why have a reef tank at all? Or air conditioning? Or a pool? They are all extravagances that all people lived without for thousands of years and most have for the last half century.
 
Bob,

I was thinking of all this when I was setting up my new tank. If you remember I went with 1-250 MH (centered) 1-160 watt VHO in the back and 4-24 watt T5's on each side. My PGE only went up $30 a month on average. I hear you guys talk about PGE and I'll just say mine is under $150 a month. But I do have a small house, have cut out my chiller, it is off on days that will not be over 85. Also I tell the lady she is limited to only 5 min with the hair dryer.....j/k ahha =)

Also i turned off the pilot light on the heater. no need for it to be on in summer. Unplug all the items that I'm not using...yata yata. Anyways

Here was my comparison when I was planning my tank:

traditional- (3) 250 MH= 750 watts
(1) 160 VHO= 160 watt
(2) 36 T5= 72 watts = 982 watts

my set up now- (1) 250 MH= 250 watts
(1) 160 VHO= 160 watt
(8) 24 T5= 192 watts =602 watts

That's 380 watt difference when they are all running! That is 8 hr for the MH, 10 for t5’s and 12 hour for VHO.

The coral may grow faster if I went with the 3-250MH set up but it works fine for me and PGE is lower. Also I talked to "the grim reefer" he is the expert of T'5 on RC and he said t5 would be much better than a 150MH, that was my other consideration. Some people said I would get the spot light affect with the MH in the middle, I do a little bit but I watch the tank at night when it is in T5 and VHO mode so in the short I like the light set up and it's a lower PGE. If you’re in Petaluma some time give me a call to check it out.
 
Shane,

Will do,I saw a lot of posts by the Grim Reefer also. I believe he and several other said T5's comparing watt to watt will cost you less to Burn,plus their cooler and therefore no need for a chiller.

My Tank is an open top and i run two fans that keep the temp just fine,unless we have a hot day. Then I run the AC but only in that zone. I never AC the whole house just one or two zones. The other bonus to be determined soon is when it's AC weather the Solar is producing a lot of energy.


I love to hear your electric bill is only $150. before solar I had months last summer where I burned over $500 in Electricity. I had a record month last year where combined gas and elec was over $700. Let me tell you that was a sobering moment.

I think something else that will help. PG&E is eliminating the 4th and 5th tier pricing which is like $.42 and $.47 a killawatt and going to 3 tiers with the top paying $.29. I know people have said the lower tier pricing will go up,but it will have a huge effect on the higher electric users. me being one of them.

Don't even get me started about the water bill. I'm actually hooking the well on my property back up for landscape. The well water has a high iron content therefore I can't put it in the pool,but it will help lower that bill in the summer.

Cheers

And no more talk about Eliminating Reef Tanks,The mods might kick you off the RC:spin2:
 
I'm like you tier 4. Pool and AC in the some drives it up to these levels. I run 3 LED light modules max power 216 watts. I don't run at max power, whites at 65% and blues at 100%, so I'm probably using well under 200 watts.
 
Thysrof,

If I were you I would just turn my MH photo period down to 5-6 hours per day and be done with it. Save on electricity and lamp life.

Neonfish,

I'm very interested in hearing more about your LED success. Also were can we see current photo's of your whole tank? I have installed LED systems and have never been satisfied with them. Last one I installed I finally added actinic VHO and am now getting better results.
 
Steve,

I've always run the halides for 6 hours. if you read my post about the Solar panels really doing a good job,cut my usage by about 70%.

I'm also thinking seriously about a more efficent pool pump. Mines 10 years old and I'm sure I can save a lot that way. I'm going to hold off for a whle with the cost of the new roof for the solar system ran a little over estimate.
 
Steve Ruddy said:
Thysrof,

If I were you I would just turn my MH photo period down to 5-6 hours per day and be done with it. Save on electricity and lamp life.

Neonfish,

I'm very interested in hearing more about your LED success. Also were can we see current photo's of your whole tank? I have installed LED systems and have never been satisfied with them. Last one I installed I finally added actinic VHO and am now getting better results.
Click to expand...

I actually bought 2 modules from you. You can see it on my album. 95 has 1st gen. The 45 has a single 2nd gen it is much better than the 1st.
 
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