Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)
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Brad Syphus
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Best state there is.
Brad Syphus
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I'm not here to sell coral. I'm just a good friend of Terence and trying to give him a little nudge. (wink). As you can tell, I don't sell much coral.
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Yep, Brad is part of a tight circle of elite reefkeepers from the great state of Utah. Thanks for the offer Brad. I think Nick will be my coral-über to get it all out here from my UT peeps! Gotta get those lights...
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My Tank Thread
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Damion
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You said ReefKeeper! Lol!
Now focus Daniel Son. Lights on, Lights off.
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At RAP NY this weekend. Just two days ago something struck me after studying my heater history. My heaters are on a lot, even when it's hot outside. The area where my sump is stays really cool. I estimate that my heaters will be used 9-10 months out of the year.
What does this mean? Well as far as lighting is concerned, and crazy as it sounds, it means that to save money in electricity I actually should use metal halides! Four 250w metal halides in a closed canopy for 8 hours a day (especially morning to midday) will keep me from using at least half the 800-1000w of heaters I currently use. And during the hot months I simply will run the cycle 75% as long and employ a huge box fan downstairs if necessary.
Now it gets better. What's old seems to be new again. Not only are meta halides the undisputed coral growth kings, now you can get them in dim able versions that can be controlled with an Apex!!! What!?
So here at RAP I saw these MH fixtures and ballasts from Reef Brite that have a dim able ballast that lets the light and par dim down to half an a smooth manner. With their two arc bulb it looks like this could be a great set up as I could distribute the light, and the heat from them; over a longer period of the day.
Of course I will still have some sort of colored LED supplementation on the tank, and I think this is going to give me a great look, some tweak ability, great coral growth efficacy, and overall the most energy efficient way to run the tank.
I still haven't pulled the trigger but it seems to make a lot of sense.
Now it's 4:30am here so I need to get some more sleep so I can be ready for all you control freaks' questions today!
What does this mean? Well as far as lighting is concerned, and crazy as it sounds, it means that to save money in electricity I actually should use metal halides! Four 250w metal halides in a closed canopy for 8 hours a day (especially morning to midday) will keep me from using at least half the 800-1000w of heaters I currently use. And during the hot months I simply will run the cycle 75% as long and employ a huge box fan downstairs if necessary.
Now it gets better. What's old seems to be new again. Not only are meta halides the undisputed coral growth kings, now you can get them in dim able versions that can be controlled with an Apex!!! What!?
So here at RAP I saw these MH fixtures and ballasts from Reef Brite that have a dim able ballast that lets the light and par dim down to half an a smooth manner. With their two arc bulb it looks like this could be a great set up as I could distribute the light, and the heat from them; over a longer period of the day.
Of course I will still have some sort of colored LED supplementation on the tank, and I think this is going to give me a great look, some tweak ability, great coral growth efficacy, and overall the most energy efficient way to run the tank.
I still haven't pulled the trigger but it seems to make a lot of sense.
Now it's 4:30am here so I need to get some more sleep so I can be ready for all you control freaks' questions today!
hellsangelbx
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Hey @Terence happy finding your post. Great meeting you yesterday @reefapalooza. I was the one that mentioned I seen your YouTube videos. Keep up the great post if it's not for post like these. People like me wouldn't learn more or continue the hobby that pays a lot people. Or keeps most of us broke 
. Any hoot still intrigued your journey from the final setup.
. Any hoot still intrigued your journey from the final setup.
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My sump is in the crawl space under my home. Even on 85-90 degree days it barely exceeds 75-78 degrees down there. I have my heaters on an energy bar with very little other draw on them so I can watch the graph of amps on that EB8 and except for the duty cycle of the heaters (they are titanium with their own controllers and will not run continuously) they were running nearly all the time from October through May. About half the time in June. And only in the last two weeks did they not come on at all.
Even during hot times I can easily mount a 100w box fan over the tank and cool it if necessary. The crawl space is fully vented all around so there is good ventilation for the extra humidity.
Even during hot times I can easily mount a 100w box fan over the tank and cool it if necessary. The crawl space is fully vented all around so there is good ventilation for the extra humidity.
I guess I don't see the cost savings based on that... if you assume a 50% yield from 1000w of MH to water heat (and that's high), is 500w going to make up for the bulb replacements? What is your total LED wattage?
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Oh and I will add that if I get even 400w of heat from the lights impacting the tank, I probably will equal the power to light ratio of LED in that balance. (700-800w LED) vs (1000W MH +200w LED)
But we will see how much the lights and the heaters and the tank overall uses when I get it all outfitted with the new EB832!
But we will see how much the lights and the heaters and the tank overall uses when I get it all outfitted with the new EB832!
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That is being generous. It would likely take 6-8 Radions to get the coverage that the MH will give.
Look, I am a big time LED guy. But every situation is different. When you need the heat, it makes a ton of sense to go MH, internal pumps, etc. Plus no matter what anyone says, you cannot go wrong with MH.
Of course there will be $300 in bulbs per year - sure.
Look, I am a big time LED guy. But every situation is different. When you need the heat, it makes a ton of sense to go MH, internal pumps, etc. Plus no matter what anyone says, you cannot go wrong with MH.
Of course there will be $300 in bulbs per year - sure.
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And yes. At 0.30 per kWh 500w for 8 hours will make up for it.
Seems about like a break even, not counting what you'll add in LED supplements. Which, with added growth, seems like a good deal. But the energy savings are only $36/mo at that rate, so that basically pays for the bulbs, no?
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A little better than the bulbs. But you are also not factoring in the cost of the LED fixtures themselves. Six to eight LED vs 4 MH + some LED accents. Prob a couple thousand less at least.
