MH energy consumption

drizcol

drizcol

Member
I am thinking aobut changing my lighting systems on my small 37 gal tank. Im going to make it into a reef tank and I want to beable to have what ever type of corals I want in there. And Obviously I want them to thrive.
So MH is the best way to go for the lighting but what is the energy consumption like? I really dont want my electric bill going any higher. I currently have a twin tube floresent set up on that tank.
any way someone (that I doubt knows what he is talking about) told me that MH lights use a lot of electrisity. he claimed it makes your electric bill rise drastically.
anyone have any information about this?
 
drizcol

drizcol

Member
not really Im still researching what I should have. its a 37 gallon tank. I thought it was 4 watts per gal so I thought a 150 would be good. Or is that not right for MH? I alredy have the 30" twin tube fixture so I thought I would use that too.
 
thegrog

thegrog

Active Member
A 150 would work for your tank.
MH consumes the same amount of energy that a normal bulb would. If it is a 150 watt bulb, it consumes 150 watts of electricity per hour. For the amount of light they put out, they really don't consume much electricity. To get the equivalent amount of light from a normal, screw in bulb (like in your desk lamp) you would need thousands of watts worth of bulbs.
Where you start adding up cost is the extra fans for cooling, the supplemental lighting, ect. I feel this is minimal though.
Hope this helps!
 
caomt

caomt

Member
175 would be good eh? thats what i got on my 29 gallon.. i thought someone said that "ballast" help save energy.. magnetic ballast uses more energy than a electronic ballast... i say a 175 watt is the same as keeping a computer on all day and all night...
 
caomt

caomt

Member
if you want i got a 175 watt ballast box i can sell you.. brand new... itll come with quick disc wires.. all you gotta do is wire up some to a socket and plug and play..
 
thegrog

thegrog

Active Member
Originally Posted by caomt
175 would be good eh? thats what i got on my 29 gallon.. i thought someone said that "ballast" help save energy.. magnetic ballast uses more energy than a electronic ballast... i say a 175 watt is the same as keeping a computer on all day and all night...
I agree that a 175 would work just fine. A 150 would be a HQI bulb and put out slightly more light, but 175 would work fine in that size tank. I have a 175 in my 29 and it is working fine.
Magnetic ballasts use more at startup, but when running they use about the same amount a an electronic balast. The difference is minimal cost-wise, just that electronic ballasts tend to be quieter running then magnetic ones and that little humm that magnetic ballasts put out can be annoying.
Most computer power sources are 400 to 500 watts......but they rarely draw that much all the time. Probably more than what a 175W bulb would draw, but not a whole lot.
 
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