Lighting

[lbaier]

I found some inexpensive lighting at AHsupply.com. 96w Combo Compact Bulb
One tube is 10,000K daylight and the other tube is Dark Blue 03 actinic. with the ballast and everything. is this enough lighting for my 46 gal reef tank. I wanted to get anemones and stuff that needs good lighting.

[loganj]

It will be enough for some of the low light critters. I'd say for SPS and anemones, you'll need either a 4x96w PC or a couple of 175w MH. You might also want a 96w PC for actinic supplementation. How old is the tank? Anemones generally don't do well in newer tanks. It would be best to let the tank get about 1 yr old before adding one. If you wanted to have some high and low light corals, you could center one MH and have dimmer areas on either side of the tank for the critters that need less intense light. A MH fixture will cover about 2'.

[lbaier]

i found on Hello lights, you can get a VHO 4 36" lighting system for half the price, isn't 36" 4 Lamp VHO Retrofit Kit (w/ ARO Model 4L ballast) better than 36" 4x 96W Compact Fluorescent Retrofit Kit?

[loganj]

Better? Not IMO. As good? Probably. The 36" VHO tubes are 95w each so your wattage is virtually identical. It has been postulated that VHO actinic is more intense than PC. I really don't know. I have seen successful tanks with both types of lighting. I think you would be OK either way. You may find that the VHO bulbs will need replacing more often than the PC's. I don't know how good Hellolights ballasts are. If I were going to go VHO, I'd feel better with an Icecap ballast if only because I've used them and I know they're good.

[MR294]

The ARO ballasts from hellolights are excellent IMO, and I actually prefer them to Icecaps. A 4x95w VHO set-up would work great if you are interested in softies, LPS, some lower light SPS etc. If you are at all interested in doing high light SPS and clams, I would go ahead and spend the money on a halide and 1 or 2 VHO actinics. Better to do it all at once, instead of buying an inadequate lighting system now, and having to buy another 6 months down the road.

[loganj]

Originally Posted by MR294

The ARO ballasts from hellolights are excellent IMO, and I actually prefer them to Icecaps.

I've never used them so I'd have to defer to MR294's experience on the ARO ballasts. I would feel better about trying them now though. I believe they are a "potted" ballast and not repairable. The Icecap is repairable although the price differential may not make it worthwhile to you.

Better to do it all at once, instead of buying an inadequate lighting system now, and having to buy another 6 months down the road.

Absolutely! Agree 100%.

[lbaier]

Any experience with the moonlight, a friend found championlighting.com that has it for 213, it comes with (the one I am thinking about getting) 2 96 watts, and 3 of the 1 watt moonlights. do u think this is okay for a reef w/ bubble tips and maybe a hatian?