Quote:
Originally Posted by asylumdown
Moral of the story - on a big tank, the cost 'savings' of running LEDs in terms of electricity absolutely DO NOT over-come the replacement costs of the units as they start to fail once your warranty expires. And I promise you they'll fail.
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I did some math a few weeks back on my lighting, and found that power may have actually cost me more to run LED. While the total wattage was slightly less, with the period ramping up and down, and moonlighting on all night, total power consumption was likely higher. My math isn't good enough to calculate the cost over the curve of the ramp periods, but lighting was on significantly longer with LED, offsetting any savings I might have seen had they just replaced the 7 hour photoperiod of the MH. That, coupled with costs in replacing units and/or parts, LED was not a savings of any sort after all said and done.
Now, as you stated, for a smaller tank that can get away with a single unit vs a T5 or MH fixture, it may be the way to go. Other reasons may also contribute (heat management, life is not complete without lightning, etc), LED might be the right light, but cost of running and the "they last 10 years" sales pitch are not the right points to make the decision with.