With my LEDs, my heater comes on occasionally at night (early in the morning, actually), but on and off for at most 3 hours. But the much bigger cost is the chiller. During the summer, of course, no heater, but the chiller still runs quite a few hours in the afternoon/evening.
I had T5s before I went LEDs, and didn't even use a heater (not even in the winter). But the chiller had to run at lot, even during the winter. So, no question, LEDs had a huge net saving in heater/chiller costs for me.
I should mention, though, I have enclosed covered tanks, so they do trap more heat. And because I have SPS, have quite a few in-tank pumps which also produce some heat.
But the bigger power savings are actually the wattage used by LEDs vs T5s (and even more with MH). No comparison there.
And then there are the pure capital costs over 5 years. LEDs cost more up front, but you save on annual bulb replacement costs. The break even depends on which LEDs you buy, of course, but with my Radions (not cheap), it is about 5 years for me.
So, I really can't see how anybody can say LEDs cost more because of heater, or other costs.
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