MH/CF or MH/VHO?

[Mishap]

I'll be setting up a 120 this summer once renovations are done on my house. I plan on building it into the wall, so expect many more posts in the future.

My question of the moment, which is better? Metal Halide / Compact Flourescent or Metal Halide with VHO?

Also, where are some good online retailers?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

 

[WorldNation]

i like VHO's. looks a lot better.

 

[taku]

I've only ever had MH + PC and my upcoming lighting upgrade will only be MH + VHO, I'm ready to try it, the colors I've seen are better than PC IMO

 

[nemofish2217]

the only difference ive really seen, is that actinic pc's tend to give more of a blue hue to the water, and vho's give more of a purple hue, IMO. But, the colors seem to pop more with vho's. I personally am a fan of pc's..... but i also like vho's..... so i think either would be good....thats all my personal opinion...

 

[wetWolger]

vhos are better than pc imo

 

[MiddletonMark]

I was really happy with my change from CF -> VHO actinic suppliment to my MH's.

 

[mikeatjac]

VHO is a better color IMO

 

[DMK]

VHO no doubt.

 

[clown1]

VHO and MH = nice balanced color

 

[jobob]

i have mh and pc on my 55gal and its nice, the colors are balanced pretty well. i also have mh and vho on my 29gal. and i love those lights, IMO i like the color the vho gives off. its only actinic but its more spread out. but pc did come out with the 43in bulb so they might be a little more like vho. i couldnt decided between corallife pro HQI with pc or se mh with vho. i really like vho so i went with a se vho set up. after the fans and powder coating the vho came to the same price as CL pro. i would def. get the VHO. i got mine from cooltouch lighting. it wasnt suppose to come with the mh bulb, but i worte a email to them and asked if it did and they say yes. so i got a free bulb with it. its 14k so im not goin to use it until i get 50\50 vho bulbs. 14k with actinic is to much blue for me.

 

[Anemonebuff]

VHO or T5 for supplementation. PC actinics do not give off the best color or strength IMO.

 

[Mishap]

Thanks for all the input, I suppose I'll look into the VHO or T-5 route.

What are some good online retailers for the retro kits?

I plan and building in wall so a custom canopy will house the lighting.

Thanks again,

Matt

 

[xtrstangx]

VHO are better for suppliments.

 

[itstheantitang]

I've got t5s and they are great, you should consider them for your 120. Only get those with individual reflectors for each bulb.

 

[Mishap]

Here's a rough idea of how I plan to have the hood.

My next question, what ballasts and what bulbs would give the best color and all around most appealing view?

Thanks again,

Matt

 

[xtrstangx]

I would do XM 10K's for the MH and URI Super Actinics for the VHO's.. that is what I am doing for my 120g.

 

[REV]

Recommend T-5s instead of vho's. Check out icecaps forum.

 

[reefshadow]

I like the vho's as well. they really do have a better colour than pc's, and seem to make everything fluoresce alot more nicely.

Just out of curiosity, why use ALL super actinics? I have almost an identical lighting setup as your proposed one, and have found that it looks AWESOME with 2 of the super actinics and 1 50/50, with or w/o the halides on. The nice thing is that you can set the timers to start with the vho's, switch on the halides a couple of hours later, and then end the cycle with a couple of hours of vho's. It gives it kind of a dawn/day/dusk effect, and has also saved me alot of hours on my halide lamps. That way I have nice viewing with only the vho's on, instead of just an unnatural actinic only look.

If you do a slightly higher kelvin on the mh lamps, you'll get a good balance through the whole lighting cycle. I used a mixture of 10 and 14 k coralvue lamps.

 

[The Reefer91]

VHO bulbs tend to have a longer life span cause they don't heat up as much.

 

[jobob]

i run xm 10k and 2xvho actinic, although i would think about running 2xactinic and 2xactinic white(50\50). since u have 4x vho i think it mite be to much actinic.