130" long vs 72" long

[e_murray]

Hello all,
I have a 300 gallon that's 6'x3' and I had someone that wanted to buy it so that got me looking at a longer tank. Glass cages sells a 130" long 340 gallon. It would go all the way across my living room wall. Would operating cost be much different? It's close to same gallons but I thought the amount of lights needed for almost eleven feet long would be outrageous. As my power bill is a small car payment as it is..

Opinions?

Thanks.

[carey]

Saltwater tank? cause that would be awesome. lol

If so the only thing I see as being an issue would be the lighting. Most likely a hanging setup would work pretty well.

[e_murray]

Yea saltwater. I'm concerned about power usage on lighting. Right now I'm running the 6 t5ho's and it's drinking power seems like.

I have 3 MH 250w pendants. That I am not using. I thought about just making 3 mountains of rock. In the 11 ft span ( a light for each mountain) and have some open swim room.

[carey]

The MH's are gonna suck alot more juice than the T5's do. I do like the ideas of a couple mountains, with that much room you surely can do a spectacular setup.

[David S]

maybe its about time you went to led's,although they can be expensive to buy,overall they are cheap to run

[e_murray]

Yes the guy that is wanting to buy says i must include my MH'ds
so.........

LED's I am assuming will be worth the money. Might even pay me back in the power usage? My power is running 300 per month and its just me living here with the fish tank. lol...

addiction or hobby?

[e_murray]

My local fish store will sell me AI SOL Led's for 300 per fixture and said they are same or better light as a 250 MH. I have not done my research yet.. But I saw them on the tank he has on display and it was absolutely captivating! Beautiful effects on the water and had a control module that could adjust the color temperature from really white to how ever blue you wanted it. Was amazing to me.

[mr_X]

i would get two 5' t5 units for that tank. how deep is the tank top to bottom?
a 10' tank is gonna need about 5 LED fixtures at about 400-500 a piece.

[e_murray]

Currently I have a TEK retro fit 6 bulb with individual reflectors. And it's really bright!
I was thinking I would just divide them and do 3 on half and 3 on the other half. I don't have anything that's really demanding on light. Just a few zoo's and mushrooms.

[Gti_Leo]

but some day you might want to put more in it, i'm thinkign about a 96x24x24 and i plan on using a DIY LED fixture from rapidLED. will probably end up using 132 3watt LEDs so i can keeps clams and acros. although a fixture like that will run me well over $1000 to have them dimmable with a day light controller but at the same time only use about 400 watts rather then almost 900 if i use LEDs or over 1000 if i use MH with actinic suppliments