better light for soft corals?

[Cozen89]

I am currently running a 6 bulb Tek T5 HO fixture on my tank with mostly zos and mushroom corals. My corals seem to be doing great and growing steadily.

The problem is I'm upgrading tanks and my fixture will no longer fit. I found some MH fixtures taht would fit, but I'm not sure I want to jump to MH's.

In ppl's experience, which is better for mostly soft corals? I doubt I will be getting heavily in to SPS.

For a more detailed comparison, My tek fixture is a 36" 6 bulb 39 watt each. The halides are 48" dual 175 watt with either dual 110watt VHo or dual 40 watt T12's.

My tank will be 60" x 18" x 16" tall.

Thanks

 

[dragon_slayer]

the best softie tanks I've ever had were light with VHO

kc

 

[Cozen89]

have a good place to recommend for buying VHO's?

Sorry I'm not too familiar with VHO's. What are they capable of and hwo do they compare to MH, PC, T5s?

 

[michaeldaly]

My softies grow very well under MH's

 

[dragon_slayer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10061516#post10061516 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cozen89
have a good place to recommend for buying VHO's?

Sorry I'm not too familiar with VHO's. What are they capable of and hwo do they compare to MH, PC, T5s?

I've kept pretty much every LPS and Softie there is with VHOs and allot of low light SPS so they are quiet capable, they are far superior IMO then PC but not quiet up to T5 and MH.

you can get a retro kit from hellolights or reefgeek.

@michaeldaly

not all softies do well under MH and even with extended acclimation to it I've had a few varieties that completely stopped growth or even receded. if the original poster isn't going into a dominated SPS system they really aren't necessary.

kc

 

[Cozen89]

do they have actual fixtures or just retros? I don't have a canopy and after building a stand from scratch, I don't really care to make a canopy now too =)

 

[dragon_slayer]

both.

kc

 

[Cozen89]

oh yeah i see it now. Wow those are just as expensive as t5's.

 

[dragon_slayer]

yeah, the only differences are the end caps and bulbs, they both use the same ballast and wiring harness.

kc

 

[Cozen89]

Are VHO's t12's? These are 110 watts right?

So what are the t12's that are 40 watts? Just lower outputs. Are these 40 watt t12's a good combination with haldies? I'm sure the 110 watt VHO's are better but for energy sake are the 40 watt ones good enough to use on a softy tank paired with 2 175watt halides?