02-26-2017, 09:23 PM
I re-evaluated which lights I wanted to get. I will try to give the short version of how I (eventually) re-decided.
Starts here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lig...ights.html downloaded: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuHFJHCYI0pnqDP28y0dIkK9PNXu I then clicked the "Results" tab and pulled every row of information for a 24" depth (close to my aquarium setup) into a new spreadsheet. Next I created a new column "Watts/PAR" which does exactly that.
EVO Quad Clip 3W Timer 6500K was the winner at about 0.4. I could not find any spectrum chart so I moved on to the next winner which was the Finnex Ray 2 at 0.8.
From here all of my research was in regards to the Finnex and TMC GroBeams. Looking back at the original spreadsheet I find myself wishing I had started from a source with more variation in brands. Starting spreadsheet had these brands: Finnex, Light Your Reptiles, Zoomed, Samsung, EVO, Beamswork, and VivaGrow
I pulled data for the GroBeam1000 ND and the GroBeam500 from http://www.aquarayusa.com/growbeamspecsheet.pdf. TMC has updated (better) versions of these GroBeams but I could not find spec sheets on the updated products.
I pulled data for the 16" Finnex FugeRay Planted+, 36" Finnex FugeRay Planted+, 18" Ray II DS, and the 36" Ray II DS from http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/145-fi...-data.html.
To my surprise Finnex had a very nice spectrum graph...it appears to extremely similar to the GroBeams spectrum graph. This is very important as I plan on having a heavily planted tank.
I have been told by American Aquarium Products that I should have 4 GroBeam 600s for a 55 gallon aquarium. Based on spec sheet that is 224 PAR (at 16" depth) I went on to figure out how many of each product I would need to get as close to 224 PAR as possible. I then pulled prices from Amazon and American Aquarium Products.
At this point I used an old spreadsheet to graph costs of the various systems in terms of initial cost and electricity costs. Graphs show 12 month and a 121 month costs. Graph assumes lights are on 100% for 10 hours a day, that there are 30 days in every month, wattage cost were calculated with this formula: Cost of operation per month = (Watts x .001) x (rate/kWh) x (hours used per month) (https://www9.nationalgridus.com/niagaram...liance.pdf) at a rate of 9.4 cents/kWh (http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/1...your-state, Oregon)
Starts here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lig...ights.html downloaded: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuHFJHCYI0pnqDP28y0dIkK9PNXu I then clicked the "Results" tab and pulled every row of information for a 24" depth (close to my aquarium setup) into a new spreadsheet. Next I created a new column "Watts/PAR" which does exactly that.
EVO Quad Clip 3W Timer 6500K was the winner at about 0.4. I could not find any spectrum chart so I moved on to the next winner which was the Finnex Ray 2 at 0.8.
From here all of my research was in regards to the Finnex and TMC GroBeams. Looking back at the original spreadsheet I find myself wishing I had started from a source with more variation in brands. Starting spreadsheet had these brands: Finnex, Light Your Reptiles, Zoomed, Samsung, EVO, Beamswork, and VivaGrow
I pulled data for the GroBeam1000 ND and the GroBeam500 from http://www.aquarayusa.com/growbeamspecsheet.pdf. TMC has updated (better) versions of these GroBeams but I could not find spec sheets on the updated products.
I pulled data for the 16" Finnex FugeRay Planted+, 36" Finnex FugeRay Planted+, 18" Ray II DS, and the 36" Ray II DS from http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/145-fi...-data.html.
To my surprise Finnex had a very nice spectrum graph...it appears to extremely similar to the GroBeams spectrum graph. This is very important as I plan on having a heavily planted tank.
I have been told by American Aquarium Products that I should have 4 GroBeam 600s for a 55 gallon aquarium. Based on spec sheet that is 224 PAR (at 16" depth) I went on to figure out how many of each product I would need to get as close to 224 PAR as possible. I then pulled prices from Amazon and American Aquarium Products.
At this point I used an old spreadsheet to graph costs of the various systems in terms of initial cost and electricity costs. Graphs show 12 month and a 121 month costs. Graph assumes lights are on 100% for 10 hours a day, that there are 30 days in every month, wattage cost were calculated with this formula: Cost of operation per month = (Watts x .001) x (rate/kWh) x (hours used per month) (https://www9.nationalgridus.com/niagaram...liance.pdf) at a rate of 9.4 cents/kWh (http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/1...your-state, Oregon)
