I do agree that you will have a loss of energy as the more times you convert energy from one form to another it drastically reduces the efficiency.
however lighting out here and even more so through windows will never be sufficient for proper growth and tank health. Just not enough light and the angle of light coming from the sun, we aren't in an ideal location.
Initially start up will be a slight bit more expensive because of the equipment being used (energy efficient and tank efficient). The long term costs will be practically drastically less (not including tank maintenance). Solar is very reliable and surprisingly efficient as long as you put it to work in the proper ways. Trying to build a full system that runs strictly on solar would cost way to much to be worth while and nights would make it even less reliable. Though if you convert your entire tank from AC to DC Voltage then you don't have the solar panels power the tank but simply supply recharge power to the battery system. By doing this you have to calculate the amount of Amps your tank will draw (after converted to DC) to then figure out how long it would take to drain a high amperage battery. After you know this you can figure out how many batteries to get and how many solar panels you would need to ensure that during the tanks peak hours the batteries are never drained. At night when the tank shuts down the only things running are sump and circulation pumps, plus the heater if need be so the power draw is less then half of what it is in the day so you don't have to worry about the batteries draining to 0. After that in the first portion of the day before the tank lights come on the solar is already working to recharge the batteries and the whole system starts over.
It also protects the system from power outages since its off grind, I don't know what the power reliability is here since I have only lived in Alberta for 8 months, but I an alternative such as a generator doesn't lower any cost but simply provide backup if connected. The system I am designing will be 100% off grid (but will have a transfer switch) to allow for grid power for whatever reason should the solar fail.
Sorry if this is a bit to in depth, I know it is a dry topic as I have already put half my friends to sleep discussing this with them. If anyone is interested in what I come up with and whats to know what the final cost is I am happy to keep you up to date, at the moment I am rebuilding my entire setup, new stand, and canopy as I just moved out here and I figured I wanted to make it more pleasing to the eyes.
Rockon
Fes
