Has anyone tried VHO lights with SPS?

[Earl45]

I've read that it doens't give the proper amount of light, but I was curious if anyone has tried it before and what the results were? Did the coral die a slow death? Or a quick one? Or did they just hang on to life without growing?

Thanks

 

[Wiskey]

There was a whole thread here some time ago with VHO sps tanks, there were some nice ones. From what i understand if you jam enough of them in the canopy, and run them close enough to the water, and replace them regularly you can pull it off.

Search for it if you can,... I can't, server is buisy

Whiskey

 

[Earl45]

Yeah, I've learned you cannot search unless it's the middle of the night. I'm sure there was a discussion about it, but I figured I'd ask since searching is impossible.

 

[Wiskey]

Ya, but nothing for a while, that thread is at least a year old. I have no personal experiance so thought you might get some info from it. The thread might even be in GRD, blast, let me see if I have the link somewhere. It was a long thread with pics and everything.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

I do have the link!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is for VHO only tanks, but there are some SPS tanks in there. Check it out!
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206608&perpage=25&pagen umber=1

Whiskey

 

[Earl45]

You are a great man

 

[Serioussnaps]

HAVE YOU RESEARCHED T5'S?

I WOULD CONSIDER THEM A MUCH BETTER ALTERNATIVE TO VHO AND THEY ARE HIGHLY COST EFFICIENT AND MUCH LIGHTER ON THE WALLET UPFRONT THAN MH'S

ARE YOU ASKING BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GET VHO'S? OR BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE VHO'S?

IF YOU DONT ALREADY HAVE THEM I WOULD SCRAP THE IDEA AND GO T5 IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES TO METAL HALIDES!

 

[prance1520]

:::turns caps off:::

I'll second the T5 idea if you haven't already bought your VHOs. Quite a few beautiful T5 lite sps tanks out there. Just run them under the right conditions and you'll be happy with what you see.

Matt

 

[jjackson]

I have a friend that kept a very very nice sps tank under 4 3 foot VHO's she just made sure she got acros and such from people who were keeping them under lower light.... I mean it was a REALLY nice tank some of her colors made me jealous.

 

[Earl45]

I have VHOs. I wasn't going to get any SPS, but was just asking out of curiosity. My tank and knowledge level isn't mature enough anyway for those types of corals.

 

[Wiskey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8312175#post8312175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Earl45
You are a great man

Thanks, but I think it's more like "You are a lucky man"

Whiskey

 

[Shawnts106]

I've read that it doens't give the proper amount of light, but I was curious if anyone has tried it before and what the results were? Did the coral die a slow death? Or a quick one? Or did they just hang on to life without growing?

Ive grown one of the most amazing orange/red monti caprics under four 110watters that is out there.

Ive grown a georgous Blue and Green Tortusa under these with NO problems and great growth and color
Ive grown Porties under these bulbs
Ive grown other montipora species like Digitata, Undata, Mollis, Danae and Cap's.
A nice green base purple polyp birds nest.
Bonsai acro from Indonessia
Yellow/blue tipped acro
Valida with good coloration.
Super Red digitata
Tenuis
the list grows...

Yes you can, but Im changing over to T5's.
So far Ive replaced to of the 110watt VHO's with a Aquablue Plus from Geismann and a ATI brand 12,000 Aquablue special.
2 more to go, Im doing it slowly to not FREAK anyone out...

so far so good!

You can keep SPS under VHO's but your water needs to be VERY VERY clean to get the colors... and if I may say so myself, I think the colors look better under T5's or Halides than VHO's...

Untill they make a 460nm Actinic Bulb from URI for VHO's I wont be happy!

 

[fishdoc11]

These guys used to do some good stuff with VHO's:
http://www.garf.org
Go to the links on the left for some good pics.
From what I understand things have gone downhill with Garf lately but the proof is in the pudding and it definately can be done. It helps if you get tank raised corals that have proven to do with with flourescent lighting. At least one other member on here uses them and gets great results but I can't remember his screen name at the moment...the ORA Miami orchid originally came from him FWIW.
hth, Chris

 

[Genesis Reef]

VHO's are a reefers friend!!

We grow near everykind of sps and softy, with VHO here at our frag farm...even acros under 100% vho's...Icecap and URI's are the secret words....

I can grow some awsome purple monsters under vho...just as one example...

T-5's are great...ONLY if you buy the right bulbs...but thats a no brainer....many daylight T-5 bulbs will bleach your sps out in a hurry!!!! They are very powerful...as far as heat, heck mine run just as hot as my 250 radiums...but being like I am..I run a 4.5 inch high power fans over each and every single bulb (all kinds), and a fan on each ballast...simple principle...energy goes only 2 ways into light or into heat...I'm trying to favor the light team...even lowers total electrical consumption..

....again VHO's are a reefers friend!

J

 

[Freed]

The SPS I have under my VHOs are the best colored SPS that I have. I would put SPS under VHO's before I would my MH in an instant. The colors under the VHO are so much deeper and alot more vivid.. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Genesis Reef]

ahhh GARF...I use to do lots of trades with Leroy and Sally joe Headlee...Scott Morrel from here at RC is in co-hoots with them as well...great guy to! Leroy and Sally are good people..very devoted to reefs as most of us here are...

And yes they sure have went downhill...I havn't talked to either one in quite awhile....but there is a cause...Sally joe got a rare illness...very rare....and its really got their frag farm down....she was doing better last I knew...their rep is not so good anymore, but I won't bag on em....


Good people, but my frags are way bigger than theirs...LOL

J

 

[Acroholic]

Does anyone know where to find or have a spectral plot of a URI VHO Super Actinic? What are the wavelength (nm) peaks?
looking for 140w in particular w/ IceCap 660

 

[NuclearReefs]

ive run URI's on Ice Caps in combination with Iwasaki's and get great results.. im running T5's right now and going to rebuild hood so I can use these new URI's VHO's I have then possible goto T5's all the way

 

[Genesis Reef]

URI know whats up!!

 

[Amphiprion]

I have used VHO over sps for nearly 8 years (LPS for 4 years before that). You can have outstanding results, even with VHO as long as water quality is sufficient. I have recently upgraded to a T5 and VHO combination. I like the combination more than I like either one separately.