Vho's Only?????

[saltwater212]

ok im setting up a 72 inch tank and it will be 125 gallons.
im getting a good deal on a 4x160watt vho retro.
do you think its ok to light a tank with just vhos. was planing on halides, but this sounds nice to me.
itll be an LPS softie tank, but could i still get good color on my sps, if placed high up.

were would my acans be placed in a system like this.
any advice would be great
thanks
joe

 

[joe18]

ill tag along, as im curiouse to see the response

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

its more than fine for softies and LPS.....SPS high up i would think as well(not the most light loving ones though)

 

[Horace]

SPS do OK with VHO if they are high but I wouldnt count on doing anything more than some montis. I have a bud with pure VHO and I do like the look of this tank, but hes got mainly zoos and LPS. He now has a few SPS on top that are doing ok too. But they certianly arent growing like weeds either.

 

[razer]

I have seen some amazing tanks done like a 180 with six 160w. the water quality must be kept good. medium to low light depended sps. pretty much any lps and softys. add another 2 more bulbs if u get a chance.

 

[zanemoseley]

I think you'll be fine. VHO's are nice bulbs especially the Actinics. Some SPS may have a hard time coloring up but overall your success rate will probably be pretty good. As good as MH? Probably not for SPS but LPS and softies probably.

 

[Horace]

LPS/Softies do wonderful under VHO. VHO looks very good to. Definatly the best Actinic out there, atleast for now . T5 is supposed to be coming out with a new actinic which is supposed to blow away the VHO super actinic but we will have to wait and see.

 

[mgny]

My 9 year old reef is a vho only tank. One of the biggest myths out there is that sps corals wont color up and grow well under vho lights. I have approx 30 different sps all kinds and colors, 2 maxima, 1 crocea, and one12 inch derasa clam that lives on the bottom of my 180. The derasa is 8 years old and has grown from a 2 incher. The bottom of the bb tank is covered with a colored zoanthid field. Even at a depth of 24 inches the zoos keep their color and spread pretty fast. I run 3 aquasuns and 3 actinics. The key with the acros and crocea is to keep them up high. My slimer, chips, blue torts, red millis to name a few look as good as any halide tank that i have seen. A huge myth started by people who dont have a clue. Mike

 

[mgny]

I am working on pictures.

 

[joe18]

wow
thanks alto,
i would love to see the pictures

 

[Croman]

Check out Pi's pics he has a nice SPS tank (180 I think) that is run by just VHO's. As for me I'm currently at the early stages with SPS.

 

[jdsabin1]

My 20+ month old 150 gallon reef tank is all VHO's also. 3 actinic, 3 50/50's.

I have a few SPS, mostly LPS and softies due to me not wanting to tinker in the tank all the time and enjoy it. I do frag fast growing softies but oherwise no heat problems and the tank is plenty bright.

I love my VHO solution .

Here's the link to my tank thread. HTH!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=579879&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[kbmdale]

I have a birdsnest that came from a reefer that had MH lighting,

here is a pic when I first got it.pic is from july, best I got with any detail

here it is a couple of weeks ago in my vho only tank. its a 30g with one 95w super actinic, 1 95w white actinic, and 1 95w aqua sun, its in the right hand corner.

 

[mgny]

Here are the pictures of my 180 bb vho mixed reef.

 

[mgny]

a few more pics

 

[Croman]

mgny wonderful pics. What bulbs do you use?

 

[Croman]

Never mind read the post above the pics