whats your lighting set-up?
- Thread starter nemo g
- Start date
nano4brains
New member
outer orbit on the 70g. it has PC's and MH, and moonlights. its set for 24 hour cycle.
salt newbie01
New member
4 46.5" VHO's over 75 gallon 440 watts total. So far I have been very happy with the vho lights. They have been up since the first of the year. Just keeping lps and a few softies they all seem to be doing well.
hey guys, what are you keeping under those lights, since they are drastically different.
reef, hows the heat production on that orbit? and the life of the power compacts?
salt, how did you combat the "pink" look of the vhos? or do you like it? what do you have that you think is doing very well - color and growth - under them?
nG
reef, hows the heat production on that orbit? and the life of the power compacts?
salt, how did you combat the "pink" look of the vhos? or do you like it? what do you have that you think is doing very well - color and growth - under them?
nG
Having been in the Hobby for more than 11 years, you name the lighting setups I've had over time. From 150W standard base MH and doubled ended MH , 175W mogul MH, 250W Moguls based and double ended MH 400W MH magnetic and electronic. Flourescents from PCs, VHOs, and T5s and a variety of lengths.
For the widest range of LPS, VHOs IME still can't be beat.
When it comes to Acans, echino, chalice, open brains, blastos. I'd pick vhos over T5s and most MH anyday.......
For the widest range of LPS, VHOs IME still can't be beat.
When it comes to Acans, echino, chalice, open brains, blastos. I'd pick vhos over T5s and most MH anyday.......
blange3
Brewer and Reefer
I have 550w VHO on my 75 gallon LPS that I just finished. I have frogspawn, hammer, blastos , acans, candy canes at the moment.
The main reason is the colors. You can't beat the URI VHO Super Actinics. I use 2 Actinics and 3 50/50's and I don't find it too pink at all. I also find that with VHO only I don't need fans.
I went back and forth on this for a long time. I exchanged quite a few posts with David as a matter of fact. I went with Ice Cap ballasts so I can give a hybrid VHO actinic - T5 50/50 a try, but right now I'm very happy VHO only.
The main reason is the colors. You can't beat the URI VHO Super Actinics. I use 2 Actinics and 3 50/50's and I don't find it too pink at all. I also find that with VHO only I don't need fans.
I went back and forth on this for a long time. I exchanged quite a few posts with David as a matter of fact. I went with Ice Cap ballasts so I can give a hybrid VHO actinic - T5 50/50 a try, but right now I'm very happy VHO only.
For LPS, better colors and nice expansion. Honestly, you just can't go wrong with the VHOs in a LPS dominate tank. The corals I mentioned where the worst. You don't want to spend big money on a fancy acan only have it be a lighter less vibrant color. VHOS are more LPS friendly for a wider range of LPS than with the T5s.
With T5s there are so many variables the mix of bulbs, number of bulbs, overdriven or not, reflectors you use all play a role. With VHOs very little variation. What may work ( or they think it works but actually haven't been running T5s long enought to really know yet ) for one person isn't going to work for others. For an LPS dominate tank, you can be doing more damage to your corals than positive for some situations. I pretty much guarantee while some will thrive you will have some that get lighter in color or don't expand well but you need to give it at least 8-12 months before you can really determine. Just tough to have a LPS with a wide variety of corals and all do well with T5s.
Also, people put way to much emphasis on savings. A t5 48" normally driven runs 60w +/-. 48" VHO runs 71W on an Icecap 660. Unless you have lots and lots of bulbs your running 10W per bulb your never going to see a noticeable difference in your electricty bill may .50 if your lucky. Bulb life, I get 16-18months life from my VHOs on an Icecap, so yeah maybe get a few more months out of T5s but really that's not a huge make or break and would probably take 3+ years before you actually save a set of bulbs in replacment costs. Where the real saving potientially can be but most people never see it because they go for the 6-8 bulb type setups is if you can achieve virtually the same amount of light with less bulbs. For example: 4 vhos and can get by with 2-3 T5s. My experiemental/prop tank has just 3 T5s on it now my goal is not to increase output for my LPS dominate tank because I feel it doesn't need more, I'm just looking for the saving. Now once you get into those who are looking to do a community tank with some SPS and LPS type corals VHOs may not be the best but I think people are pretty nieve as to attempt to do both and everything be all peachey for both LPS and SPS.
