pondfrog said:
Interesting comment about costing too much. I'm either not sure I follow you or I'm missing something. Take my 10' tank for example. I am thinking 2 of the 660 icecap ballast with 2x6' bulbs (or I could do 8x4' bulbs running front to back) on each of them. Cost would be about 130ish for the bulbs and about 300ish for the ballasts. In the scheme of a tank that large that is an almost nonexistent cost. My 8 PFO ballasts with xm bulbs and lumenarc reflectors cost WAY more than adding the addtional VHO actinic.
Now the wattage is only about 880 for all that VHO vs the 400W MH I will be running.
I just throw this out for discussion, I'm not sure the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.
Steve
Steve:
The issue of cost depends on how you look at it. The bigger the tank gets, the more difficult it becomes to be cost effective and have efficient ways of doing certain things. One thing is for certain regardless of income or the size of your bank account and that is that if it costs a ton all the time to mantain it will become a chore. Chores don't last long and neither will the tank. That is fact no matter who you are.
When I look at the cost of lighting, I don't even consider the up front cost if it will make it more efficient to run and be more cost effective in the long term. Case in point are the lumenarc reflectors. They cost about $125+ each, but they are so good they will allow you to run less MH bulbs, which saves in the short term buying the new set ups but it also saves in the long term from not having to replace more bulbs, run more electricity, and having to chill the tank so much (more electricity costs). Therefore, in the long term they are a huge saving making them a very cost effective purchase.
I personally added 740 watt of VHO to my tank. Not because it needed the extra light or because it looks better with it, but because I can now run the MH cycle a lot shorter by running them before and after. That cuts in my electricity and chilling demands and may allow me to run the MH for a couple of extra months. The VHO replacement cost is an issue, but when I factored in allt he sides, it turns out I still save some. I am all for cost effectiveness and efficiency.
Having said all the above, I may still go to the XM 10000K and VHO actinics because you cannot beat their prices and PAR is awesome plus they last a good year. It is a hard choice, but I still have some time to go before I make that choice. I hope aruba1334 is not upset for derailing his thread a little.
Aruba1334:
That is a very nice skimmer. It will certainly crank some juice out of your tank. Customer service is aawesome too. Doug backs up the product very well. I've known him since way before his Deltec selling days and he is a very stand up guy.
