Power saving tips and ways to save money!?

[jagermaier]

Originally Posted by kien

in an effort to cut heating costs I have deployed 3 x 250 watt metal halides over my tank. This approach seems to work well as my 3 x 300 watt heaters only seem to kick in for a few hours during the late night hours.

That's fine in the winter but how high does your temp get in mid summer without a chiller?

[kien]

Originally Posted by jagermaier

That's fine in the winter but how high does your temp get in mid summer without a chiller?

In the summertime we turn on the most expensive to run appliance that man has ever created.. Our central AC. Thankfully there's not that much "summer" to worry about in Cowtown

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by kien

in an effort to cut heating costs I have deployed 3 x 250 watt metal halides over my tank. This approach seems to work well as my 3 x 300 watt heaters only seem to kick in for a few hours during the late night hours.

And you don't to connect those halides to the computer to get the "sweet spot". Some minutes of savings in computer's power too

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

LED heater anyone?

Put waterproof leds on aluminium blocks and submerge them into the water. They are "efficient" at emitting heat too isinit?

Ok I shouldn't have said that being an electrical major But then again, its not a crime thinking outside the box (or inside the water over here)

Actually not such a bad idea really & I've found myself wondering why someone hasn't given this a go. Not only will you get at least some heat transfer to the water, you'll also benefit from having the light source very close to your livestock. It's common knowledge that distance is a killer when it comes to light loss. Downside is that you won't have that funky shimmer caused by a point source of light shining through surface agitated water.... and you'd probably need to scrape off algae once in a while... ok, I think now I know why no one's tried it...

Anyhow, waterproof SMD LED light strips have been available for quite some time now & I'm using a couple of 5050 strips to supplement my DIY 10 watt multichip build. Of course I don't have them in the water, but on a smaller system this could work quite well. It's a low voltage light source, so with proper water proofing it's no more dangerous (probably less so) than having a 300 watt heater running on 120 VAC submerged in your tank. I've ordered some LEDs that are submersible for my daughter's wedding this summer. No reason you can't throw a strip of waterproof SMD LED lighting into your tank.

Here's a photo of the waterproof RGB SMD 5050 strips I have. They're covered with a substantial layer of silicone like material. All you would need to do is keep the connectors out of the water, or just gum them up with silicone too. There are also more powerful 5630 SMDs available.

[sphelps]

If you're going to submerse LED strips make sure you get IP68 rating, most are IP65 to 67 which qualifies as waterproof but not for long term submersion. The bigger issue however will be the constant need to clean the algae film off them, not sure you'll gain any benefit compared to just mounting them closer to the water surface without actually submersing them. You could always rig up a liquid cooled heat sink with some titanium tubing using tank water to extract the heat into the tank but not likely very cost effective.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by sphelps

If you're going to submerse LED strips make sure you get IP68 rating, most are IP65 to 67 which qualifies as waterproof but not for long term submersion.

Good point about the IP rating. I should have mentioned that as well. And yea, the algae cleaning would get old pretty quick I reckon. May not be as much of an issue for our freshwater friends though.