Power saving tips and ways to save money!?
 

Hey all

We all know how much power our tanks can run and the ugly power bill that fallows. I wanted to know if anyone has any tips to help save power and keep our power bills down.

Has anyone noticed since the switch to smart meter (if you have switched) Has your bill gone up? Gone down? Share some of your tips and help us all save a little money!:mrgreen:

dc pumps!!!! love em!!!!~~~

Use LED lights...that will save on your power bill!

+1. i have 160w worth of LEDs that would easily rival 500W of MH plus T5.

im not sure that the savings is all that much , realistically your heaters are going to run alot more now that you have leds,if you run 2 or 3 200w heaters does it save anything?? some savings yes but def not as much as what is led to believe.

I would be curious to know the difference in heating. It would be very hard to prove, but i would argue that a small % of the total heat given off is actually absorbed by the water compared to dissipated in the air in the room. this is simply a guess, and like i said, would be difficult to test. the difference between the two without the heat changes is 4.08kwh per day @ $0.085 per kwh (as per my last power bill), is only 10$ a month.

I should add that 2 out of the 4 40w drivers i have dont have enough LEDs to run at 100%, and the other 2 are dimmed to 80%. I dont have a par meter yet so i cant say definitively ywhether or not its equivalent to 2x250W MH. the par meter is on its way though :biggrin:

Good point Denny, but how many people are running chillers as well with their Metal Halides so that kind of counters the whole heater savings aspect :razz: I would still say that led lighting is the biggest power savings for your tank...

Can you give me some more info on this?

We have a wood burning fireplace. It saves us on heating costs during the winter.

Whatever you do, don't put your sump in the basement and the DT on the main floor. The beefy return pump you'll need is heavy on power consumption, so I've learned.

Just a quick look at the specs,
http://www.rlss.ca/#!dc-pump/vstc3=dc10000
they show 2650 gph using 85w
mag drive 24, 2400 gph uses 265w
sedra 20000 pumps 2000 gph using 220w

looks like i might be upgrading soon =)

dc pumps run cooler and have lower power consumption, they produce lots of flow and have a soft start in theory making the pump life longer.....time will tell of course as they are still a very new product.


heres a great read:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...d-and-reviewed





hopefully they will make a stronger dc pump soon but either way the largest one might do for you , depending on how high it has to travel......80watts!! giggaddy!!

geez, the Iwaki MD100RLT shows 2000gph on marinedepot using a whopping 391w. 85w to 250w difference is another $10 per month savings. $10.44 @ 8.5c per kwh

It needs to clear 12' of head pressure. I like to oversize the return as it helps with overall flow to the tank. Currently using the largest Sedra pump and it works great, just needs a lot of juice.

So the question is, is it better to replace my main pump (that runs 24 hrs/day) with a DC pump. Or replace 500w of MH lighting with LED (that runs 8.5 hrs/day).

What are peoples thoughts?

My Sedra KSP-7000 claims to use 70watts (versus 25watts for the DC pump), but my AquaController says that it lies! It uses at least 100watts probably due to the head pressure (and maybe more. I think it commonly uses 1 amp or more)

I think the best thing is to go through everything in your tank and find out what the whole system wattage would be. Does anyone recommend a special type of power bar over others?

at 12 ft what are you getting out of the 20000?

from the chart on the speedwave box the dc2640 at 12ft is about 900gph at 85w

from the chart in the box for the sedra it says at 12ft its also 900gph but uses 200w:(

I calculated roughly 750 gph (We have a couple 90 elbows the clear on the way up). I'm going to show this to the SO and see if he might let me upgrade. We've had some heafty bills lately and it's getting annoying. Now if only there was a cheaper upgrade for the iphones...

I guess it would depend on whether a new pump is required and how long a person plans to use the pump to see if there is any actual savings. 115w at 0.089 cents works out to $7.36/month. The price I found online for the DC2640 pump was $299 (not sure what you are selling them for) so 3.5 years to break even. Maybe pumps will be more efficient in 3-4 years time as well. If a new pump is required then DC is the way to go for sure, just to replace an existing pump to save money a buyer should do the math first to see if they are satisfied with the possible results. How the pump is being used will also effect the outcome, I'm calculating at 100% 24hrs a day but if a person doesn't require 100% the speed control on the DC unit can be dialed down to adjust flow as compared to an AC pump that runs at 100% all the time and uses a valve to control flow. This would further increase the power savings with a DC pump.

run your lights when power is cheaper. here in ontario, 7pm is when electricity is its cheapest. thats when my lights come on. this also has two additional benefits. In winter i keep the house cooler when we are all sleeping so having the lights on at night keeps the tank warm. In the summer, its cooler in the evening so having the lights on then keeps over heating to a minimum. I am home at 6PM so i get to enjoy my tank right up until i go to sleep.

use your return pump to drive your reactors - you can usually upsize your pump one model and use less electricity than running 3-4 smaller dedicated reactor pumps. This is very dependent on your pump selection so take the time to do the math.

you can use your ro waste water to fill your washer but be-careful, leaving it unattended will ensure a flooded laundry room.

skimmers and return pumps run 24/7. spend some good money on quiet and efficient models. the more expensive stuff has a better resale value as well.

we sell them for 279.00(i believe anyways, im not at work right now ) i agree switching for the upgrade just to save quick money isnt a good financial purchase but there are other benefits as well though when comparing to some larger ac pumps that make these good even if its for uprading.

I run dc pumps and LEDs, my power bill is higher than ever :lol: We need better ideas.

Just checking some readings the Waveline DC10000 draws 0.75A so around 85W or so at full speed. So as advertised, fairly efficient. One of my 300W heaters however draws 2.95A so closer to 325W, I have two of these and they are on a lot so makes you wonder how much I'm saving with LEDs in terms of power.

Hydro bypass - only solution

Let me get something out of my mind about "power savings" by switching to:

LEDs: Alright, so typically, someone replaces one MH fixture (250W) to get a Radio G1. Some calculations:

Cost of MH fixture: $150-$200
Wattage: 250W
Monthly cost of electricity @ 8hrs lighting cycle and @ 8c/kWh: 0.250W * 8hrs * 30 days * 0.08 = $4.8 (+- 10% give or take) = $5.28 max
Yearly cost of maintaining (1 bulb change + electricity) = $70 + 5.28 * 12 = $133
Yearly cost of JUST electricity = $63.36

Cost of a PROPER LED fixture (I am not any generic fixture):
Two proven LEDs that I consider worthy are Radios and Mitras (flame me all you want but those LEDs actually have future; not vertex or razor!)

Radion (G2) costs: $660
Wattage: 140W
Monthly cost of electricity @ 8hrs lighting cycle and @ 8c/kWh: $2.69 (+- 10% give or take) = $2.96
No yearly maintenance other than electricity bill = 2.96 * 12 = $35.52

Savings with Radion (G2) = $97.48/year (including bulb change once a year)
Price difference between Radion (G2) and MH = $460

So to have a "gain with LED", you will have to use it for atleast, 460/97.48 = 4.7 years before you start profiting with Radion (G2).

I am not going to do the calculations for the Mitras (possibly costs around $1200 and with most output so possibly the years will almost be DOUBLE!).

So, instead of putting my conclusion, I would like to ask, suppose you buy a LED fixture today, would you be using it for, say, 5 years?

2. DC pumps: These are clearly very efficient stuffs since only DC can offer variable speed motors with low power consumption (war of current is coming back I tell ya! :mrgreen:). But once again, the cost-saving benefit should be done. I am not very familiar with pumps and so I am leaving it over here (I don't have the data on prices and how long they are in running mode, etc).

If you ask me why would I get LEDs and DC pumps (when financially permitted), I would say its because of:
1. Technology
2. Versatility
3. Trend (:razz:)

Last but not the least; I used to get flamed by lines like "don't cheap out in this hobby" and "leave this hobby if you can't afford a $50 refractometer" but now-a-days, I see people buying $700 LEDs to save like $100 a year! And I used to get flamed; cruel world :lol:

[quote=mrhasan;793618]

(Quote)




If you ask me why would I get LEDs and DC pumps (when financially permitted), I would say its because of:
1. Technology
2. Versatility
3. Trend (:razz:

(End of quote)



But most importantly, the environment.

Comparing average mh to a radion isn't exactly a fair comparison. My DIY fixture cost 750 for my 75g. I would need at least 2 radions to equal it in output. 750 vs 1360 makes the time to recover the investment less. Radions, sols, mitras, they're all overpriced compared to what you can do yourself.

+1, if you love the environment own a reef tank!

not really , if you were to add half the things the radions or ghl's can do your diy fixture would cost some more im sure.

maybe its me but i find the bluetooth and wireless for my radion to vortech quite nice and handy;)


out of curiosity how do you control your leds?

light times, spectrum changes, color blending,power off etc.

I could see the vortech to radion for current control, but I've got a sunrise sunset controller on mine, and things like.storm mode and such, is it really worth it? You can use lighting controllers on units like apex and program powerheads to do similar. Mind you, I haven't played with a vortech yet so I might not know what I'm missing yet :)

you guys need to double your electricity costs.. i see around 8 cents/kwh used lots but remember under most billers all your other fees <transmission distribution, etc> are bassed on usage and cost at least as much as your actual electricity. Your 5 dollar a month savings quickly turns into 10

[quote=naesco;793620]Completely agree to that.

It is possible that some people have already bought and ditched several LED fixtures ranging from DIY, Vertex, AI, Radion, etc, to move up to the next best LED fixture :-)

DIYs are always on a very different league. Like Denny said, DIYs always welcome unexpected costs. But once done properly will have the possibility of major savings. On the other hand, you won't be getting any sort of "warranty" with the DIYs. Is the heatsink enough? Is the wiring properly done with the codes for safety? Is the fixture totally safe? Semiconductor devices can easily go wrong no matter what in DIYs. Surely you will be getting warranty from driver manufacturers like invertronics or meanwell but they can easily go wrong and the warranty over here shouldn't come over reliability.

One thing's for sure....all brand LEDs are overpriced to some extend. And that's because they are controlling the market and players will always take this advantage. One thing that we don't see is the R&D costs that incorporates within these LEDs. Radion, mitras...these come from big companies and they will surely make 20-40% since those will eventually be distributed among various sources (starting from dealers to those back door engineers who spent hours perfecting these fixtures).

And within a span of...I guess....2 years? Maybe 3 years? They have hardly recovered the main objective (placed by many) of profiting by reducing electricity bill......

Kien where's you mitras? Didn't see them on your tank in the recent pics :razz:

In the span of 1 year for some, maybe :-)

My Mitras? I have never owned Mitras. :-) I'm just not cool enough.. :cry:

LOL. Ah my bad :lol:

I haven't dealt with proper bills yet (included within rent) but as far as I know, in Calgary, it comes to something like 12c/kWh including those.

Anyhow, since its a product factor, its the same in both LED and MH and gets canceled in the calculation anyway. A slight difference will occur only due to the addiction factor of the bulb. Maybe instead of 4.7 years, it will be like 4.5 years (I am bad without calculation).

i just had my radion die , it was covered by warrenty and replaced, i dont think a diy fixture has that option and all maintanance is covered by yourself.

how about the finish , i havent seen one diy fixture yet that resembled anything close to a radion or ghl's or most brand name fixtures finish. to me having a light that looks nice is almost as important as having a light that does what i want it to.

while people are comparing led to mh savings , remember to include supplemental lighting, not may users using just mh bulbs might as well throw some fans in there too.

I was using 8.5c per kwh because thats what it was showing for power costs on my last bill. I was under the impression that transmission and other charges were fixed

I definately agree with the warranty argument. If mine goes out i cant just send it back, but honestly thats one thing i enjoy about this hobby, Im kind of a tinkerer. The R&D argument is valid as well, but i hate how all the manufactured units are behind the DIY guys when it comes to the full spectrum setups, but the mitra looks like its a big step in the right direction. as far as finish, depends on the builder. I think mine looks not too shabby, but i digress.

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/CIMG1636.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/CIMG1641.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/CIMG1638.jpg