I couldn't figure out where to post this so I figured where I frequent the most should be good enough lol. Anyway my question is kind of two in one. Firstly how do you prefer to heat your tanks and secondly, does anyone know of any energy efficient heating bulbs out there?
Heating setups
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Energy efficiency is a relative term, regardless of the simplicity as explained in msm.
Energy efficiency basically equals watts used divided by function.
So, for example, an "energy efficient" light bulb, is not the most energy efficient bulb for growing plants.
Why? Because plants only use Par watts, not all light spectrum. So CFL's for example, contain a lot of light that is not Par. Therefor, a more energy efficient bulb would be a metal halide or high pressure sodium light, which mostly produces par watts.
To translate that to heat lamps:
If what you are trying to provide is heat, then the least watts used for the most heat is what you want. Therefor, any light given off by a lamp is less efficient. Because those are watts not going to your purpose.
So any heat source not producing light is the most efficient.
This would include ceramic heat bulbs, heat tape, heat pads, and the like.
"heat lamps" (like the red colored bulbs), produce light, and therefor expend watts not suited to your purpose. These are less efficient.
does this make sense?
Energy efficiency basically equals watts used divided by function.
So, for example, an "energy efficient" light bulb, is not the most energy efficient bulb for growing plants.
Why? Because plants only use Par watts, not all light spectrum. So CFL's for example, contain a lot of light that is not Par. Therefor, a more energy efficient bulb would be a metal halide or high pressure sodium light, which mostly produces par watts.
To translate that to heat lamps:
If what you are trying to provide is heat, then the least watts used for the most heat is what you want. Therefor, any light given off by a lamp is less efficient. Because those are watts not going to your purpose.
So any heat source not producing light is the most efficient.
This would include ceramic heat bulbs, heat tape, heat pads, and the like.
"heat lamps" (like the red colored bulbs), produce light, and therefor expend watts not suited to your purpose. These are less efficient.
does this make sense?
Hmm, that does make sense about the light being a lot of wasted energy compared to the ceramic "bulbs". I wonder, if it's more cost effective to use the ceramic heaters over the cheaper red bulbs. The energy bill is obviously affected by wattage so I suppose they both would cost a similar amount to run. I suppose the ceramic may be better because I would get to same heating intensity at a lower wattage? Hmm...I just realized I'm just restating the information you provided lol. I'll need to look into the ceramics the next time I go to the LPS.
Energy efficient heat lamp is an oxymoron .
Every 60W light will put out 60W of energy, it is whether this energy is heat or light is the question. Florescent bulbs are lower wattage for the same amount of lumens as an incandescent but put off less heat and vice-versa. Infrared lights put out light we cannot see as well as a small amount of low visible spectrum light. A ceramic bulb would be the most efficient to heat with because 100% it's energy is used for heating and none for lighting. People growing plants use fluorescent because it provides a lot of lumens per watt.
Every 60W light will put out 60W of energy, it is whether this energy is heat or light is the question. Florescent bulbs are lower wattage for the same amount of lumens as an incandescent but put off less heat and vice-versa. Infrared lights put out light we cannot see as well as a small amount of low visible spectrum light. A ceramic bulb would be the most efficient to heat with because 100% it's energy is used for heating and none for lighting. People growing plants use fluorescent because it provides a lot of lumens per watt.
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For your first comment, you are kind of correct. Except my comment wasn't referring to actual lamps, but heating elements. 60w of heating element provides much more heat than a 60w lamp, and is therefor more efficient at its job for the same wattage.
As for florescent lighting, again you are somewhat correct, that is if you are comparing to Incandescent. However, anyone with a brain does not grow plants under Incandescent lighting.
Plants are grown under High Intensity Discharge lights, (HID), which provide much more lumens per watt than Florescent. A t5 provides less than 100 lumens/watt, whereas a High Pressure Sodium produces around 140 lumens/watt. There are some advantages to using florescent light to grow small plants, however, they are still less efficient than HID lighting in LPW. This doesn't even include PAR watts which are what plants use, unlike lumens which include all visible (to us) light.
Not trying to be cheeky, just informative for clarity.
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Yes it is cheaper to use Ceramic heating over red bulbs. They are a little more expensive up front, yet last much longer than red lamps, and will save you money in the long term, up front cost included. If you can afford to get one, I would.
However, if they are too expensive right now for your budget, you can do the exact same thing with the same efficiency, using much cheaper heat pads or tape. Don't forget to check online retailers too, you should pay much less online than you will at your lps.