Funkness Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 I am making a custom light for a friend of mines 210 gallon tank its 84 inches long hard to find lights for it but he has 3 mh 250 lights laying around and a 72inch flouresent fixture with 4 96 watt sockets in it that works so heres kind of my plan you cant see it but on the cross members in the middle of each MH light there will be a blue moonlight led the two half cylinders are going to have 2 96 watt leds mounted from each side with reflectors and the cylinders on the top are actually going to be cpu heatsinks with fans to try to pull some of the heat up off the MH lights and i will be putting plenty of spots for hanging grand total for stuff having to be purchased and not stuff laying around is around 200 bucks let me know what you all think about it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfennell Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I don't quite follow how you are planning on plugging LED's into a the 96w sockets that were presumably for power compacts? Have you considered that you are going to spend $200 + $300 (the used value of the 3 250s) plus the electrical cost to run it for a year (1150w -> $400 a year for 8 hours a day) + $150 on lights so $1050 in the first year, where you could just spend $1000 on non DIY led's and use only $95 a year in electricity and no bulb changes. (maybe $1400 + 150 if you have lots of SPS). You would be ahead after 2.5 years roughly if the LED's were worth nothing after... And that ignores the air conditioning cost in your house plus the affect of the temp swings in your tank! I don't think anyone should be investing another dime into MH, the economics arent there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I don't quite follow how you are planning on plugging LED's into a the 96w sockets that were presumably for power compacts?Have you considered that you are going to spend $200 + $300 (the used value of the 3 250s) plus the electrical cost to run it for a year (1150w -> $400 a year for 8 hours a day) + $150 on lights so $1050 in the first year, where you could just spend $1000 on non DIY led's and use only $95 a year in electricity and no bulb changes. (maybe $1400 + 150 if you have lots of SPS). You would be ahead after 2.5 years roughly if the LED's were worth nothing after... And that ignores the air conditioning cost in your house plus the affect of the temp swings in your tank! I don't think anyone should be investing another dime into MH, the economics arent there. He is building this for someone else that had most of the fixtures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfennell Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 He is building this for someone else that had most of the fixtures. I addressed this in my response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 He is building this for someone else that had most of the fixtures. I addressed this in my response. It's probably more of a convenience thing than a long term cost benefit analysis. Alternately, maybe the initial cash hasn't been approved by the bean counter to spend on LEDs. Try telling your wife that you want to spend half a grand on lights when you already have lights. It's gonna take a purse and a massage or something to get that one green lighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfennell Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Why should it? You wouldn't make a decision in your regular life like this would you? Oh? I can put nothing down and the car is 15% interest or $1000 down and its 0% interest? It's the same decision here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Why should it? You wouldn't make a decision in your regular life like this would you? Oh? I can put nothing down and the car is 15% interest or $1000 down and its 0% interest? It's the same decision here... The analogy isn't that you're buying a new car, it's that you already have a car, and are determining whether you should buy a new car with better gas mileage. And trust me, we're on the same page, I have LEDs and unless some amazing new technology comes, I won't be switching anytime soon. It's just that sometimes it's easier to use what you've already got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 then you got people who are planning on ripping out their rapidled retro fit and mounting in a radeon on a biocube... we just do stuff that fits us no right or wrong it it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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