VHO's

[Ximat]

A few questions about VHO lighting:

Do they run cooler than PC's?

Would 4 110w Lights be too much for a 75g tank? That equals out to 5.86 wpg.

Do they need to be mounted a certain distance from the water?

Are Coralife balast's good?

 

[seve1]

I run 3 110w on my 110g tank. I have them mounted in a wood canopy with no glass tank cover @ 6 inches off the water. They seem to work great. Run 1 actinic and 2 daylight bulbs on a timer with I believe an Icecap 660 ballast. Not sure if 4 x 110w is too much (could probably run 3) but if you use glass over the top of your aquarium 1) your effective light will be reduced and 2) you need to watch your temps, they will run warmer than PC.

 

[morphviper]

I run 4 110w on a 75 and it is great. 2 actinic and 2 10,000k. I have them mounted to a wood canopy like seve1.

the coraline algea growth is awesome!

 

[Ximat]

Morphviper, hows the temp of your tank?

 

[fishfreek]

I run the exact same setup on my 75. My tank stays stable at 82ish during the day as long as the ambient room temp does not climb to high into the high 70's. You can alevate some of the heat by putting a fan in the canopy pulling the hot air out.

My bulbs are somewhat close at 2" or so off the waters surface. I will get some spray and salt collection on the bulbs over time. I just wipe them down with a damp rag before they cycle on every few months.

 

[morphviper]

My temp is around 82. never really gets over 82 but at night it drops to 80 or 81 but I have a heater set at 80 to prevent too much change in temp.

 

[Ximat]

I have a nice set of Current PC's on my tank right now 4x65. any input on putting two VHO bulbs on the tank in addition to the PC's?

That'd give me 6.4 w/pg.

That's what my LFS recomended today.

 

[morphviper]

what size tank and what is in it?

 

[Ximat]

75

 

[fishfreek]

On the ballast question I dont know about corallife but I am using Icecap 660 and like it alot. It runs very cool.

 

[MarineFlake]

4 x 110's on my 75G. Summer where I live gets HOT and that drives the tank temp way more than the VHOs. I do not know if they are cooler than pc lighting but its way more bang for the $$ imo. I bought 2 of thse ballasts after both my main and spare 660's dropped dead..

http://www.hellolights.com/22elarovhoba.html

I use 2 of these and they are cheap enough to toss should one die. With 2, I am not completely dead 'in' the water so to speak should a ballast croak. Not to mention I use timers to pop on the 03's an hour earlier and off an hour later than the 10k's..sort of a dawn to dusk thing...

GL!

 

[seve1]

I think I am going to add 2x55w PCs next week. That is all I can fit in but, it will give me 440w which should be sufficient for most things.