too much light??

So I build this retro fit canopy and it has around 1070 watts...my dad says that it is too many watts and it is going to blow the circuit? is this true??? I have 3x250 metal halides and 2x160 VHO?? anyone experience this?

 

need welders glasses when looking at your tank? lol, thats alot of light for a 90 , maybe even way too much . things will cook, and have troubles keeping your temps down. plus electrical bills will be huge. not sure about overloading the circuit which i believe works more on amperage.

 

hahaha that was great. And yea thats a ton of light you could cut that in half and it would still be alot.

 

What else is running on the circuit? Is it a 15 or 20 amp circuit? Is all your tank equipment running from that same plug-in? Please tell that it is GFCI protected...

A 15 amp circuit is good for 1800 watts and a 20 amp circuit is good for 2400 watts. Depending on what else is running on the circuit you could be close to capacity. If you run the vacuum cleaner on the same circuit I pretty much guarantee that it will trip the breaker.

 

Why do you have 3 250watters on a 4 foot tank? A good MH reflector will cover about 2.5' sometimes more. Not only that you could easily get away with 175w'ers. If you wanna run it go ahead, but mom and pops will FREAK when they get the energy bill.

Keep in mind ballasts esp MH will draw about 10% more than the lamp. So a 250w lamp will actually draw around 275w..

What amp is the circuit rated for? GFI?

 

The lights by themselves will not overpower a 15 amp circuit. If you are running the lights, several pumps, powerheads on the same circuit then you would be in danger of over loading the circuit. Also you have to be careful how much of the other stuff in the room or even other rooms are running on that circuit. It is good practice to not run more than 1500 watts on a 15 amp circuit (assuming 110 volt power), and with less than 500 watts to spare and without knowing what else is on the circuit could spell trouble.

Also I am with everyone else that sounds like a TON of lighting. I would cut that down considerably otherwise you will have a hard time keeping anything from bleaching.

 

You are clear to land on runway 24......LOL!!!

 

forgot to say it for my 150 gallon lol

 

Whew!!! I thought you had lost it there for a minute. That is still alot of light. But more in the zone!!

 

1070 Watts isn't too many watts. I've got more on my 150....;D

To answer the question. Not too many for the circuit, however you need to find what else is on that circuit. Houses tend to be wired weirdly from what you would think, especially older houses. I know it is a pain, but you might be stressing the breaker and not even know it.