drdoolittle
Active member
i ran URI Super Actinic.
VHO vs. T-5
- Thread starter TeeLapia
- Start date
Jeff
Premium Member
I am talking about adding great looking light that penetrates and supplies "pop" to the corals and helps with growth. In other words, I want what everybody wants, a great looking tank where the corals grow well. I have an opportunaty to add 3 bulbs. I still dont know if VHO or T5 are the way to go. I am not planning to overdrive the bulbs, Icecap ballasts do it on thier own. I am wondering if the 3 bulb VHO or the 3 bulb T5 is best in my situation.
One light source doesn't "penetrate" better than another, if you are talking about the light that's spread around the tank. Sure, if you have a MH with a focussed reflector it can send more light to a small part of the tank, but most of us want the light more or less spread over the entire tank (bottom) as much as possible.
So if 1000 einsteins of light (~400w of VHO) are hitting the surface, more or less evenly spread then the source has nothing to do with how far that light will "penetrate" in the water. Yes, in air, the tube source will penetrate farther than a point source, but we're mostly concerned with water and all it's dispersion effects, yadda-yadda-yadda.
T5's are available in a variety of colors and several variations of blue, so I suspect there is some T5 lamp that can look just like a particular VHO lamp, but I haven't done that comparison.
I read a lot of stuff by Dana Riddle at advancedAquarist.com about lighting and tube sources. Search on Sanjay for stuff about MH lights.
I went with VHO's years ago and I don't see a reason to switch to T5's. Here's why... I currently run 2x110w and 3x 90w over my tank that's about 28 inches deep. It's more than enough light and the color is very good.
Any mushrooms have to be in the shade and all zoos have to be on the bottom or the sides/ends of the tank because otherwise they can't take that much light. SPS are doing fine in the top 2/3 of the tank. Softies like frogspawn and hammers prefer the bottom third to bottom quarter, otherwise it's just too bright.
3 of my lamps are actinic and 2 are actinic white. Here's why... most of the corals we keep come from 15-60 feet deep in the ocean. The spectrum of light I am providing is measured with a spectrometer to be very close to what is found at about 20 feet deep, and at 500w of VHO the intensity is actually slightly brighter/more light than you normally measure at that depth.
The tank looks slightly blue, but natural to me, the colors of zoo's look great, as do all the SPS, softies, etc. A green acro frag I got a month ago now has nice, baby blue tips growing.
So if 1000 einsteins of light (~400w of VHO) are hitting the surface, more or less evenly spread then the source has nothing to do with how far that light will "penetrate" in the water. Yes, in air, the tube source will penetrate farther than a point source, but we're mostly concerned with water and all it's dispersion effects, yadda-yadda-yadda.
T5's are available in a variety of colors and several variations of blue, so I suspect there is some T5 lamp that can look just like a particular VHO lamp, but I haven't done that comparison.
I read a lot of stuff by Dana Riddle at advancedAquarist.com about lighting and tube sources. Search on Sanjay for stuff about MH lights.
I went with VHO's years ago and I don't see a reason to switch to T5's. Here's why... I currently run 2x110w and 3x 90w over my tank that's about 28 inches deep. It's more than enough light and the color is very good.
Any mushrooms have to be in the shade and all zoos have to be on the bottom or the sides/ends of the tank because otherwise they can't take that much light. SPS are doing fine in the top 2/3 of the tank. Softies like frogspawn and hammers prefer the bottom third to bottom quarter, otherwise it's just too bright.
3 of my lamps are actinic and 2 are actinic white. Here's why... most of the corals we keep come from 15-60 feet deep in the ocean. The spectrum of light I am providing is measured with a spectrometer to be very close to what is found at about 20 feet deep, and at 500w of VHO the intensity is actually slightly brighter/more light than you normally measure at that depth.
The tank looks slightly blue, but natural to me, the colors of zoo's look great, as do all the SPS, softies, etc. A green acro frag I got a month ago now has nice, baby blue tips growing.
drdoolittle
Active member
I was just asked asked a good question.
What if we could run t5 and vho?
I have a 72" tank. I like the VHO look but like the coral colors on T5. Instead of 2x72 VHO actinic. what if i install 1 72"URI Super actinic and a 60" T5 ATI blue?
What do you guys think?
What if we could run t5 and vho?
I have a 72" tank. I like the VHO look but like the coral colors on T5. Instead of 2x72 VHO actinic. what if i install 1 72"URI Super actinic and a 60" T5 ATI blue?
What do you guys think?
P.Kelly
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12060574#post12060574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marko9
If you already have the look of T5's and you are questioning it because you are not entirely happy, then I think you already know the answer
FWIW the difference between 3' or 4' T5s with a standrd ballast and the same size overdriven T5s on an icecap ballast is day and night IMHO.
In my book, based upon tanks I have had HO T5s -> VHO -> VHO T5 (overdriven)
Contach Hahnmeister. He does tests on T-5 numbers. There is no comparison between the two bulbs. T5's out perform VHO's in regards to par and efficiency; hands down, but there are certain color floresecent ranges that T-5's can not get. It is like the choice between DE and SE. It comes down to trying different things out on your systems and then chosing your personal preference.
Jeff
Premium Member
Thank you for that tip Warren. I did a google search and found a ton of useful information regarding VHO. Mr. Riddle has lot a lot of research and comparisons between VHO, metal halide and power compacts but I am looking to see if he has done any comparisons between VHO's and T5's.
