Holy LED light Hood Batman. Solaris.

[SWSaltwater]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
Then inadvertantly eaving the store lights on, or the SOLARIS units on would have done the same thing. Actually the store lights would have been worse. I assume you have much more than 500W of lighting fixtures in your cieling.

Probably right, but all of the T-12's in my ceiling combined do not match the heat of the halides.

[BeanAnimal]

How many WATTS are all of your T12 fixtures total?

How many WATTS are all of your HALIDES total?

It does not matter what type of lighting they are, you only need look at the wattage to determine how much heat they are producing with regard to what the AC will have to remove.

[BeanAnimal]

Originally posted by SWSaltwater
yeah but light movers look rediculous on non propogation display or sale tanks. Kind of hard to chose a coral when the light is on the other side of the tank. I will eventually go solaris on them all but that will take time to save up for, it's no argument they are expensive. I heard of a all solaris LFS in Florida I want to go check out and look at the elec bill

Bean if you have never been in a fish store at night I would think you should ask a local place about it. I was shocked my first time opening the store to find moisture on the floor and walls. We had a sub 20 degree day last year so I got a bit worried it would get too cold in here so I drove down at 2 am to find a nice balmy 80 degree sauna waiting for me.

Ohh I don't doubt that you get a lot of condensation. The closed room and cool walls will do it every time. My windows and pipes drip here in my house in the spring and fall due to condensation when the AC is not running. I have been in pet stores at night, as well as indoor swimming pools and other warm humid rooms.

I would think that your environmental units (AC and heat) would be on a thermostat so you did not have to worry about manaul temperature regulation.

Again if 500W worth of halides overheated your store, then 500W worth of ANYTHING would have If leaving the doors open during the day is the deciding factor, then you need to get a larger AC unit.

Yes replacing 10,000 Watts of Halides with 6,000 Watts of LEDs will certainly reduce the heat load by 4,000 Watts... I don't think anybody is saying it wouldnt!

[moprint]

Ok 2 halides cooked a store that specialized in selling corals and fish, at night?? The building must be brand new and insulated to the max and they must have put an old ac unit on it. This has to be thread of the month.LOL

[GSMguy]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
How many WATTS are all of your T12 fixtures total?

How many WATTS are all of your HALIDES total?

It does not matter what type of lighting they are, you only need look at the wattage to determine how much heat they are producing with regard to what the AC will have to remove.

GIVE UP

[SWSaltwater]

Building is very old 30+yrs, AC is 5 tons on a 1200 sqft building. Please learn to read that it was in the winter and AC was not on............

[SWSaltwater]

16 T-12's

14 of them are 8 ft 60wt, 4 are 4 ft 40wt There is no way for them to come on by accident however since they are on a switch and not a timer.....

The 265 watts of PC bulbs on my refugiums are the only all night light source and besides the heaters on teh tanks is the only source of heat all winter no matter how cold it gets outside. I can arrange a midnight visit this winter for anyone that wants to see what a LFS/Sauna looks like at night in the winter LOL. People pay money for that in a gym.

[BeanAnimal]

I did read that the AC was not on. It should have been on!

I assume that is the bulb count, not the fixture count?

The point is that that there is over 1000W of heat input into your building by the T12 overhead lighitng. Thats all. The point was that if the 500W worth of MH lighting overheated the building during the night, then the 1000W of overhead lighting would overheat the building during the day. The day is warmer to boot

Yes people come and go and let the heat out by opening the doors on a cold day. You say you leave the doors open even in the winter... OK.


The point remains the same and let me make it very clear.

You say that the 500W halide overheated your building on a cold nite and it was the ONLY thing left on. The other display lites were off and the overhead lights were off.

It would then follow that on a slow day when no customers are in the store, the overheadligting and tank lighting would drive the store to 110+ degrees even on a cold day unless you left the doors wide open every day.

Sorry, I jsut don't buy it.

Lets say you have 10,000 Watt worth of tank lighting + the 1000W worth of overhead lights. That would have be around 11,000 Watts of heat during the day yet 500W of heat at night cooked your store? So you keep the doors propped open the entire day all winter?

[SWSaltwater]

Doors are opened and closed to regulate humidity and temp all day

[BeanAnimal]

If you say so

[roblack]

[SWSaltwater]

Very nice, is that the oceanic half round or advanced aqua tanks?

[SWSaltwater]

by the way, H4 sucks it won't work, the corals look terrible /sarcasm

[roblack]

Thanks! Oceanic Half Circle, 76 gal. My camera skills blow, colors actually much better.

[SWSaltwater]

You skills on photo shop must be great though cause those SPS can really be there can they?


Yeah I hear you on color. The camera just can catch how nice the LPS and softies look under the light.

[roblack]

They are really just imaginary.

[JCTewks]

Not sarcasm here...but does the tank look that washed out in person or is it just the pic?

[JCTewks]

Originally posted by SWSaltwater
Doors are opened and closed to regulate humidity and temp all day

Wouldn't an exhaust fan on a humdistat/thermostat be more effective, as well as work at night too?

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by SWSaltwater
yeah but light movers look rediculous on non propogation display or sale tanks. Kind of hard to chose a coral when the light is on the other side of the tank.

I know that is the thinking, but I have to disagree. Seeing this place: https://www.cappuccinobaylive.com/ changed my mind. They have huge halides in lumenarcs moving back and forth over their prop/show tanks (usually only 12" above these 4'x8' or 4'x4' 12" high acrylic vats) on light movers with 20,000Ks and it actually works out very well. You know that problem with halides that prevents you from being able to see (looking down) certain pieces of coral when the glare reflects back in your face? The moving nature of the light rails makes it easier to see 'all the corals' when looking down. Otherwise, the reflection bouncing up from the water would prevent you from seeing about a 2'x2' patch of corals all together under those lumenarcs. But, in this case, it actually works. And the halides dont move that far away ever, so its not like there are ever 'dark spots' where you cant see corals... the spread from the reflectors takes care of that. There is never a point where the 'light is on the other side of the tank' like you say... maybe a foot or two away at most. Just something to consider... I have seen it work very well.

I can see where LED's would be a huge advantage for a retailer though. Many use the 'look down' vats with halides mounted up high. These lights spill light all over the room. LED's allow you to mount the light up high, yet focus it much better than with a halide (unless you use a lumenarc with 'blinders' I doubt you could beat it). So the light gets into the tank rather than all over the floor and customers. I can see how 6000 watts could compete with 10,000 watts of halide in that case... easily. Not to mention, in retail, you arent trying to grow the stuff as much as showcase it properly... so having the 'spots' that are over the important stuff lit up, and some corals not as well lit, would make perfect sense. Im sure the blue makes the corals look killer too. And of course, there is the whole 'no Timmi, dont touch that!' factor with the halides that the LED's avoid.

I could see a system of T5 strips mounted on the front and back edge of the viewing tanks also being a competitive way to illuminate the corals... more light in the tank, less glare, less wattage, etc... Thats how shops in the EU are done, where they will double and triple stack 4'x2'x1' tanks on racking and need a light that can fit in between yet still allow for easy viewing.

[SWSaltwater]

Originally posted by JCTewks
Not sarcasm here...but does the tank look that washed out in person or is it just the pic?

His camera is just not white balanced. Not all cameras have a option for that....

[SWSaltwater]

Originally posted by JCTewks
Not sarcasm here...but does the tank look that washed out in person or is it just the pic?

His camera is just not white balanced. Not all cameras have a option for that....

[SWSaltwater]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
I know that is the thinking, but I have to disagree. Seeing this place: https://www.cappuccinobaylive.com/ changed my mind. They have huge halides in lumenarcs moving back and forth over their prop/show tanks (usually only 12" above these 4'x8' or 4'x4' 12" high acrylic vats) on light movers with 20,000Ks and it actually works out very well. You know that problem with halides that prevents you from being able to see (looking down) certain pieces of coral when the glare reflects back in your face? The moving nature of the light rails makes it easier to see 'all the corals' when looking down. Otherwise, the reflection bouncing up from the water would prevent you from seeing about a 2'x2' patch of corals all together under those lumenarcs. But, in this case, it actually works. And the halides dont move that far away ever, so its not like there are ever 'dark spots' where you cant see corals... the spread from the reflectors takes care of that. There is never a point where the 'light is on the other side of the tank' like you say... maybe a foot or two away at most. Just something to consider... I have seen it work very well.

I can see where LED's would be a huge advantage for a retailer though. Many use the 'look down' vats with halides mounted up high. These lights spill light all over the room. LED's allow you to mount the light up high, yet focus it much better than with a halide (unless you use a lumenarc with 'blinders' I doubt you could beat it). So the light gets into the tank rather than all over the floor and customers. I can see how 6000 watts could compete with 10,000 watts of halide in that case... easily. Not to mention, in retail, you arent trying to grow the stuff as much as showcase it properly... so having the 'spots' that are over the important stuff lit up, and some corals not as well lit, would make perfect sense. Im sure the blue makes the corals look killer too. And of course, there is the whole 'no Timmi, dont touch that!' factor with the halides that the LED's avoid.

I could see a system of T5 strips mounted on the front and back edge of the viewing tanks also being a competitive way to illuminate the corals... more light in the tank, less glare, less wattage, etc... Thats how shops in the EU are done, where they will double and triple stack 4'x2'x1' tanks on racking and need a light that can fit in between yet still allow for easy viewing.

Glare is not too much of an issue on the zero edges, the lack of or less surface aggitation helps see the corals a lot easier. Best over views I have seen.

[hahnmeister]

Why wouldnt glare be an issue with a zero edge... it has a water surface still... that doesnt change. And if you dont have surface agitation, I cant say that its a good thing exactly for the corals you are keeping. I cant imagine a good turnover w/o no surface movement.

[roblack]

I know my pics look too white and washed out. Still learning how to use my camera for the tank. I will play around with it a bit and post some new pics when I get a chance. The answer is "Yes", the colors are much better on the corals. My point in posting was to show that people are keeping SPS/LPS colonies under the LEDs. My colors were not any better under MHs anyway. Maybe I should Zeovit?

[roblack]

I have also found it difficult to photo due to the curved glass. Any suggestions on photoing or coloring up my corals are welcome. Thanks.