Light power consumption
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Equipment
Forum Description: This is the place to ask question about reef equipment.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=75015
Printed Date: April 29 2025 at 1:46am
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Topic: Light power consumption
Posted By: PDoug
Subject: Light power consumption
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:03pm
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Okay so I am thinking about upgrading my Light bar but am wondering about what you ran into power consumption wise for t5s over MH. The next question is How did your power consumption wise for LEDs. (The trends mean nothing to me) that being said Feedback would be awesome let me know what you have experienced ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |
Replies:
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:18pm
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I went from nearly 1000W of MH to about 250W of LEDs. I ran 400W Mh over another tank and switched to nearly that in T5. I wouldn't switch from MH to T5 for energy savings. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:18pm
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LED use the same amount of electricity as halides or as t5. People mistakenly think they can drop their powerbill by switching over.... but many people have found that not to be the case. Ada ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:20pm
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Nevermind- Nikki dropped her electricity. No one else has. You can swap out 250 watt halides for 200 watt led fixtures. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: PDoug
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:25pm
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Thank you this actually Is exactly what I was looking for. So with this info my question is if you are using 200w LEDs you probably don't crank them up so are they using less power then or am I way off the mark? ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |
Posted By: PDoug
Date Posted: February 24 2015 at 6:26pm
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Just read your sig adam and I am thinking I may have to make the drive could pay my fees while I am at it. ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |
Posted By: PDoug
Date Posted: June 06 2015 at 8:57pm
So figured i would share some findings. My power bill averaged around $100 after adding my two AI LED fixtures I am down to $60 which i found interesting and worth sharing My Wife is happy too  ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: June 06 2015 at 9:15pm
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Remember that even though you are replacing your other lights with similar or the same wattage of LEDs. Rarely do LED users run their lights at 100% power. So even if it's the same wattage, chances are they won't use that much power. I have never seen an LED setup not use less power that other lighting types. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: June 07 2015 at 9:25am
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When I switched to LED's I looked at it this way. I went from 1230 watts of MH, PC Combo to 1200 Watts of LED. Not much savings except I was only running LED's at 75%. However, the LEDs put out WAYYYYYY less heat than the MH and I figured I saved big on cooling expense in the spring, summer, fall and didn't have to open my window in the winter to cool my office. (OK, no savings in the winter on heat.) |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 07 2015 at 9:48am
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1200w of leds? Holy moly ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: June 08 2015 at 8:39am
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I was not where I could look up the wattage of my lights so I guessed about 200 watts each. OK, so I'm terrible at guessing. lets try 72 watts each for a total of 432 watts. Those running at 75% do make a huge difference over my 1230 watts of MH and PC. (This figure was not a guess.) Still for me the biggest savings was in heat. Since I work the in room with the tank all day the less heat aspect made a huge difference in my daily comfort aside from the difference it made to my wallet. |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 08 2015 at 12:40pm
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Hahaha...omg...I was going to keel over if you were running 1200w of leds. Keeping the same wattage of leds as mh or pc doesn't make sense. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: sleepingdeep
Date Posted: June 08 2015 at 12:51pm
| i run 165 W Leds, but only run them at 50-60% most of the time.. so really, its around 80-100 watts of usage, plus like will mentioned, there are not heating/cooling costs to factor in. |
Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: June 08 2015 at 2:37pm
You should see the bank of LED's over my tank. 1 for every square inch of the top of my 180 gallon tank. J/k of course.  Actually I have 6 AI Sol's on my 180. It's probably overkill, but I didn't like shadows I was getting with only 4 so I added 2 more. Since we are speaking of power consumption I will say that now that my tank is empty and nothing including the lights are running, my power bill has come way down. My wife thinks I should keep it that way, but we all know I can't live tank-less for very long. Right now I only have he Koi in the pond giving me my daily fix, but that doesn't quite do it in the winter. |
ReefdUp wrote:Posted By: PDoug
Date Posted: June 15 2015 at 9:12pm
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So how high off the tank are you guys running your LEDs? I have mine pretty high up and have to run blues and Whites at 90% and reds and greens at 70% to get the light amount my halides/pc put out. Despite that I still dropped my power bill. I guess if I trusted my sea swirl more to not splash I would lower them (maybe time to buy some locline) ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |
Posted By: PDoug
Date Posted: June 15 2015 at 9:14pm
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Since we are speaking of power consumption I will say that now that my tank is empty and nothing including the lights are running, my power bill has come way down. My wife thinks I should keep it that way, but we all know I can't live tank-less for very long. Right now I only have he Koi in the pond giving me my daily fix, but that doesn't quite do it in the winter Rejoin the dark side Will ------------- (307)679-7898 Phillip Douglass 75 Gallon Reef Tank |