light for hood

[bosslady]

I need to upgrade the lights in my hood. I have a friend that will wire everthing for me. He gets his electric supplies locally. Is there a difference between [acronym:c5c78bf3e6="Very high output fluorescent"]VHO[/acronym:c5c78bf3e6] bulbs and blast. you would buy at an electric supply and ones you would buy from an aquarium dealer? Can you use either?

Jeanett

[Anemoneman]

You can use the ballasts that your friend can get from the electical supply house. Be sure to use the correct ballast for the size/type of bulb you have. Your electrician friend will know which one to get. You will want to get bulbs made specifically for fish tanks unless you are doing a [acronym:f4246b8a83="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:f4246b8a83] planted tank. Most of the commercially available general purpose bulbs are too far in the red end of the spectrum. What kind of tank are you considering?

[bosslady]

I have a reef tank. 75 [acronym:e14d4ccb7c="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:e14d4ccb7c]. It has been set up for about 8 months. The lights on it now are 4 45 watt. All I have had up until now are fish and [acronym:e14d4ccb7c="Live rock"]lr[/acronym:e14d4ccb7c]. I want to get some corals so I need to up grade. Should the end caps be the same for standard bulbs as thoughs for the aquarium ones?