Solar power tank.

[zemuss]

I am wondering if anyone thought about using solar panels during the day to run their tank? At night it would run off the normal power to the house. Has anyone thought about this?

 

[_Alex_]

ive thought about it but, just cant personally afford to do it at this time. but would like to see setups if anyone has it running!

 

[zemuss]

Bump...

I am curious if anyone else has put thought into action on this subject. I live mainly in California now and with the cost of gas / electricity etc.. I want to try and save money on my room to benefit the home. What perfect place to start other than a Solar system for the Salt Water tank that I am in the works of building. To be clear, I am in the planning stages of a 40 Gallon Long or Cube depending on what fits in my room. I am trying to be as energy efficient as I can be with this build. For instance, LED's versus MH versus T5's, in your opinion which are more cost effective but would also benefit the reef? (Think Stand Alone versus a Hybrid T5 / Led system)

What pumps should be considered? Ecotech Vortechs? Karola's?
What type of System would be beneficial for an energy efficient system? Sump? AIO? Bio Filtration only?

These are the things I am currently thinking about and trying to do to save energy and cost in the long run.

"Z"
P.S. No i am not a tree huger but save dollars with Solar is something that has been on my mind for quite some time now.

 

[ficklefins]

I'm not sure I understand. Are you trying to setup solar panels to catch light from your tanks lighting system?

 

[CJO]

I think he wants to put solar panels up on his roof and use the energy produced from those to run his tank. Another option to consider might be using solar tubes to light the tank.

CJ

 

[zemuss]

I would mount the solar panels on the roof to collect the energy of the sun and power the tank equipment during the day. Does that make more sense?

 

[JackoChang]

I've thought about it, but can't really afford them. Great idea though. You could power your system at night from the batteries that the solar panels charge. Now the question is, how much power do you need.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[patent]

I would mount the solar panels on the roof to collect the energy of the sun and power the tank equipment during the day. Does that make more sense?

I would think you would just install a standard solar system patched into your house's electrical system. Whether you do one that is patched into the Electric Utility or one that powers batteries that power your house would be up to you.

To do one that powers your tank during the day, and then have the tank run off the house at night is a bit much, and I can't see what it would gain you over just running the solar straight to the house.

 

[cparka23]

^^ Agreed. Kilowatts are kilowatts. It doesn't matter whether you use them to power your tank or your microwave.

Also, these systems aren't cheap or efficient. I haven't seen any numbers, but my intuition says you're probably much better off spending that money on better insulation for your walls/windows than getting any silicon photovoltaic. There are other solar technologies out there, but I don't think there are any consumer products yet.

 

[nixer]

ideally if you did this you would want to keep as much equiptment as you could 12 volt and run 12vdc from the panel to the tank.
if you didnt you would see major loss due to running all those transformers.
for many of us solar power would pretty much be a no go, unless you had some major investment with a tracking system. i would consider a windmill. the green channel on directv had a show with some setups a few years back.

 

[zemuss]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Still kicking it around. Good input so far.