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TBDuval

Going Green!!!!! Really!

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7 Comments
by
TBDuval
, 11-13-2010 at 04:22 PM (2565 Views)
Hi Addicts,
I am starting this to talk about my going green stage. I have spent the last 2 years fixing my house with energy saving products. New doors, AC, windows....you get the drift. Now since I am an addict, I must confess, saving money is fun. Now I start to think about my tank, " How can I make that more green"? A little about my tank. 210---- 6*2*29----- 3 250 MH---- 4 t-5 5ft blues--- 2 mp40's----1 tunze, forgot the model, 1 MJ modd----- SRO 3000 skimmer, 2 Mj 400 running GAC and PO4 remover---- and a return pump----and a sump built by Melev,dont rememebr which one.

First, research all lighting options. Lights are my biggest energy consumer by far. Everything else was thought about energy wise. Second, my goal is by this time next year to lower my reefs power consumption in half or close to it. I want to hear people idea's and thoughts, about what you do or would do, thats within reason to make your reef more green. I am not cutting holes in my roof or putting solar panels up just yet. Even though I have thought about it.

Tanks for your help ~~Reef Addict TBDUVAL~~

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Categories
‎ Tank Entry , ‎ Lighting , ‎ DIY projects

Comments

  1. evoracer's Avatar
    Well I guess as far as lighting goes I can think of two options. The first being LED. I am still on the fence about LED for SPS. If I did t have SPS I would have them a long time ago. The other option I can think of is a single 400 halide on a light mover, along with your T5 supplements.
  2. TBDuval's Avatar
    I agree. I am researching the LED scene right now. I have an LFS that switched my from MH 400's to LED's and he said he is getting better PAR. I guess he could tell I was not buying it. He took out his par meter and showed my. About 15" down in the display tank, he was getting between 350-400. He then took me over to another tank and took a Par reading of a 400 MH, PAR 200-300 about 8" down. The more and more I research LED's, the more I think it can be done but at what cost? DIY would be cheaper. I am going to build one a test unit after Xmas and place it on a frag tank to see my results. Why do you think they cant support SPS? The new AI model looks like a PAR monster.
  3. Sam11909's Avatar
    LED all the way! I tried DIY LED's over my 7.5g cube and the results have been great! I'm going to convert my 55g's lights to LED now. I was really skeptical at first, but I can't argue with the results I'm getting.
  4. evoracer's Avatar
    See my latest blog post about LED and the lack of UV controversy. Don't get me wrong I REALLY want LED to be the real deal. I think they produce more pop than MH, and at less than half the wattage.
  5. MarcG's Avatar
    If you build a manifold off of your return pump you can eliminate the two mj 400s running your gac and po4 remover.
  6. Jessy's Avatar
    This is an issue close to my heart. My new tank is going to be green. I just haven't written the article yet.
  7. michika's Avatar
    I'm also just going through this process and I found a couple of small changes that saved me about $40/month on my utility bills.

    - Cut my lighting schedule back; I used to run my total lighting schedule for about 10-12 hours per day with T5s comning on, then MHs, then MHs off, and then T5s off. I now run for a total of 7 hours, and run the T5s separate then the MHs. My schedule is now T5s, 5min overlap, MHs, T5s with overlap, then moonlights. I also run one dark day (no T5s/MHs) once per month. The shortened schedule had no impact on my clams or SPS, but I saw the numbers roll back on my bills.

    - Optimizing auto-top offs. If your auto top off is going on/off/on/off frequently its costing you power, find a better way to arrange your system to allow the top off the run less frequently.

    - Manifolds; I found chaining reactors with a manifold using a single efficient pump worked wonders. I cut out 4 maxi-jet type pumps, freed up plugs, and reduced the number of pumps I have to clean.

    - Heat; I capped my lighting on my tank and found that my heaters don't run a much. Yes I had to add in fans to the canopy, but the fans run less & cost less then having my heaters running constantly. The canopy keeps the heat from my T5s and MH in the tank and not in the adjacent room.

    - I also try to think differently about how I move water in my tank, I avoid multiple powerheads when I can and instead opt for manifold type returns.

    When I did this whole process we used to pay ~$450/month in utilities; Water, Gas, Electricity & City Disposal & fees. We now pay something thats closer $300, and as I swap out old appliances, and replace old windows & doors (like you obviously know) the costs keep dropping.