How much power do your lights draw?

ReefsandGeeks · 04/18/2019, 12:54 PM

I'm curious just how much power you guys are using on your lights. I know the best method for adjusting lighting is a PAR meter, but also good to have an idea of actual power usage for the purpose of estimating how strong lighting needs to be before you buy.

I currently have 380W of LED power available if turned up to 100% over my 150 gallon, or 2.5W/gallon. Currently, I'm in process of adjusting my lights. I'm aclimating some new corals, and also have the ultimate goal to run much less white than I used to. At the moment, I'm at 225 Watts of actual power draw, or 1.5 W/gallon. I think I'm planning on ending up somwhere around 280W when I'm done adjusting, depending on how the coral respond of course.

bshow24 · 04/18/2019, 03:13 PM

Watts per gallon isn't really a good method to utilize when it comes to LEDs. It's all about coverage and having (typically) 3 watt LEDs in the fixture. Even if you have 380 watts of power, there can be tons of shadowing or not enough coverage on the tank.

ReefsandGeeks · 04/19/2019, 09:08 AM

Shadowing doesn't seem to be an issue in my tank. I made some DIY diffusers which do a really good job of both difusing the light to reduce shadowing, and blending the color spectrum. Can't say it looks good, but I have a canopy, so not really concerned with how it looks.

Still, I am curious how others wattage draw compares. I am aware that PAR across the whole tank is the only true way to know how a specific lighting set up is working for any tank, but still nice to have an idea of what a typical level is, or just to see how much it can vary depending on each person's set up.

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bshow24 · 04/19/2019, 01:29 PM

The problem is you can't really do that with LEDs. There's too many different types of setups.

Example - a radion uses a total of 150 watts with everything on full. But the PAR of the light it puts out would be much higher than say a chinese black box LED using the same wattage. In addition, your light at 150 watts would have much more coverage than a radion at 150 watts simply due to the fact that it's longer.

LEDs are a whole different ball game than simply using watts per gallon.

hkgar · 04/19/2019, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bshow24

Watts per gallon isn't really a good method to utilize when it comes to LEDs. It's all about coverage and having (typically) 3 watt LEDs in the fixture. Even if you have 380 watts of power, there can be tons of shadowing or not enough coverage on the tank.

Yup, ditched my LED's several years ago and now have 3x250 W MH and 4x80 T5 (1070 total watts)

04/18/2019, 12:54 PM	#1
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	How much power do your lights draw? I'm curious just how much power you guys are using on your lights. I know the best method for adjusting lighting is a PAR meter, but also good to have an idea of actual power usage for the purpose of estimating how strong lighting needs to be before you buy. I currently have 380W of LED power available if turned up to 100% over my 150 gallon, or 2.5W/gallon. Currently, I'm in process of adjusting my lights. I'm aclimating some new corals, and also have the ultimate goal to run much less white than I used to. At the moment, I'm at 225 Watts of actual power draw, or 1.5 W/gallon. I think I'm planning on ending up somwhere around 280W when I'm done adjusting, depending on how the coral respond of course.

04/18/2019, 03:13 PM	#2
bshow24 Registered Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 584	Watts per gallon isn't really a good method to utilize when it comes to LEDs. It's all about coverage and having (typically) 3 watt LEDs in the fixture. Even if you have 380 watts of power, there can be tons of shadowing or not enough coverage on the tank. __________________ Tank: Reefer XL 525 Reef Tank Equipment: 2x Radion XR15 Pro, Radion XR30 Pro, Vectra M1 Return, 2x MP40 Powerhead

04/19/2019, 01:29 PM	#4
bshow24 Registered Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 584	The problem is you can't really do that with LEDs. There's too many different types of setups. Example - a radion uses a total of 150 watts with everything on full. But the PAR of the light it puts out would be much higher than say a chinese black box LED using the same wattage. In addition, your light at 150 watts would have much more coverage than a radion at 150 watts simply due to the fact that it's longer. LEDs are a whole different ball game than simply using watts per gallon. __________________ Tank: Reefer XL 525 Reef Tank Equipment: 2x Radion XR15 Pro, Radion XR30 Pro, Vectra M1 Return, 2x MP40 Powerhead

04/19/2019, 09:08 AM	#3
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	Shadowing doesn't seem to be an issue in my tank. I made some DIY diffusers which do a really good job of both difusing the light to reduce shadowing, and blending the color spectrum. Can't say it looks good, but I have a canopy, so not really concerned with how it looks. Still, I am curious how others wattage draw compares. I am aware that PAR across the whole tank is the only true way to know how a specific lighting set up is working for any tank, but still nice to have an idea of what a typical level is, or just to see how much it can vary depending on each person's set up. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk