Lighting cost

[david]

I am about three months into starting my first reef tank. It is 120 gallons
and I am using an aquaspacelight with (2) 250W metal Halide bulbs and (2)
24W Blue lights. I have noticed that these lights along with all the pumps
etc. have almost doubled ny electric bill. Are VHOs any more efficient.
In otherwords does anybody know whether it would require the same amount of
electricty to produce 500 watts of light regardless of whether it is VHO or
metal halide.

[Marc Levenson]

500w is 500w. Option #2 is to remove your roof and use the
sun. :)

Marc


david wrote:
> I am about three months into starting my first reef tank. It is 120 gallons
> and I am using an aquaspacelight with (2) 250W metal Halide bulbs and (2)
> 24W Blue lights. I have noticed that these lights along with all the pumps
> etc. have almost doubled ny electric bill. Are VHOs any more efficient.
> In otherwords does anybody know whether it would require the same amount of
> electricty to produce 500 watts of light regardless of whether it is VHO or
> metal halide.
>
>

--
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[Robert Cadieux]

"david" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> I am about three months into starting my first reef tank. It is 120
gallons
> and I am using an aquaspacelight with (2) 250W metal Halide bulbs and (2)
> 24W Blue lights. I have noticed that these lights along with all the
pumps
> etc. have almost doubled ny electric bill. Are VHOs any more efficient.
> In otherwords does anybody know whether it would require the same amount
of
> electricty to produce 500 watts of light regardless of whether it is VHO
or
> metal halide.
>

500 watts is the amount of electricity, or power to be more specific, that
the bulbs are consuming to produce light. What you really want is light
output or intensity, usually measured in lumes, lux or candles. As a
comparison you're asking for a car that attain the speed of 10 MPG when you
really want to know how fast the car goes and you should be asking how many
miles per hour it can go. Generally speaking fluorescents, such as T8, T5
and VHO bulbs are somewhat more efficient than metal halide and much more
efficient than traditionnal incadescent bulbs. But the lighting is
different with fluorescents. The light is more difuse and you don't get
that shimmering effect you get with MH.

Two things you may consider. Using a combination of fluorescents and MH.
Keep half of the MH running, 250W, for about 4-5 hours a day and replace the
other with about 125 watts of actinic and T5 fluorescent lighting. That way
your peak consumption will be 375 watts for 4-5 hours and down to 125 for
the rest. Most corals do fine with this combination.

The other is that MH give off lots of heat. This may very well offset your
heating costs in the winter which means your electric bill will only really
be higher during the summer.

Robert

[Cindy]

>
> The other is that MH give off lots of heat. This may very well
> offset your heating costs in the winter which means your electric
> bill will only really be higher during the summer.
>
> Robert

Hmmm, which would be a bad thing here where the air conditioning bills run
higher than the heating bills....

Cindy

[J. Bednar]

Wrong, Halides are more efficient than Fluorescent bulbs. The heat in a
halide is more concentrated
so it seems more inefficient, but it's not.

jb

"Robert Cadieux" > wrote in message
...
>
> "david" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
> > I am about three months into starting my first reef tank. It is 120
> gallons
> > and I am using an aquaspacelight with (2) 250W metal Halide bulbs and
(2)
> > 24W Blue lights. I have noticed that these lights along with all the
> pumps
> > etc. have almost doubled ny electric bill. Are VHOs any more
efficient.
> > In otherwords does anybody know whether it would require the same amount
> of
> > electricty to produce 500 watts of light regardless of whether it is VHO
> or
> > metal halide.
> >
>
> 500 watts is the amount of electricity, or power to be more specific, that
> the bulbs are consuming to produce light. What you really want is light
> output or intensity, usually measured in lumes, lux or candles. As a
> comparison you're asking for a car that attain the speed of 10 MPG when
you
> really want to know how fast the car goes and you should be asking how
many
> miles per hour it can go. Generally speaking fluorescents, such as T8, T5
> and VHO bulbs are somewhat more efficient than metal halide and much more
> efficient than traditionnal incadescent bulbs. But the lighting is
> different with fluorescents. The light is more difuse and you don't get
> that shimmering effect you get with MH.
>
> Two things you may consider. Using a combination of fluorescents and MH.
> Keep half of the MH running, 250W, for about 4-5 hours a day and replace
the
> other with about 125 watts of actinic and T5 fluorescent lighting. That
way
> your peak consumption will be 375 watts for 4-5 hours and down to 125 for
> the rest. Most corals do fine with this combination.
>
> The other is that MH give off lots of heat. This may very well offset
your
> heating costs in the winter which means your electric bill will only
really
> be higher during the summer.
>
> Robert
>
>