I am getting vho lights as I am making a new canopy for my 55g aquarium. To Start out with I am going to get 1 vho ballast that takes 2 110 watt lights. (any reccomendations on types?) and the 2 48 inch 40 watt t10 lights I have, 1 actinic 1 10,000k. What kind of corals could I get with this? I am hoping in a bit, to get another vho ballast and lights and add those in there as well. that would give me 520watts of lighting. Is this a good amount or should I go more or less or what?
Getting New Lights. What Kind Of Corals Can I Get
- Thread starter dawhits
- Start date
Adrinal
4k gallons and growing!
are you recieving these as free gifts? If not, why not get t5s?
you can put any coral under any bulb... well not any. its just how low you can get the bulb to the water and how high you can raise the animal.
PAR is what matters. You can raise anything under 200 PAR. Most stuff in 150 PAR. and Plenty of stuff around down to like 80 PAR... I've never tried below that.
Anyone neer you have a PAR meeter?
you can put any coral under any bulb... well not any. its just how low you can get the bulb to the water and how high you can raise the animal.
PAR is what matters. You can raise anything under 200 PAR. Most stuff in 150 PAR. and Plenty of stuff around down to like 80 PAR... I've never tried below that.
Anyone neer you have a PAR meeter?
I'm 15,, so I don't have a ton of money, however my lfs is having a sale and have their vho ballasts 25% off. And the T5's won't give as high of wattage per lamp and T12 vho's would, So I might need less vho's over my tank than T5s, and since the cost per bulb doesn't vary that much between the two, it seemed like it made more sense to get the t12 vho's than have to get double the amount of T5s as I would like the least initial price on it.
Because the majority of the things that I have read use watts per gallon as a basic rule of thumb. I know that the different kind of lights will work differently on different depths of tanks, but as far as I've seen the v12's seem to give more bang for your buck than t5's.
wpg rule is a highly frowned rule, especially in the marine aspects.
Whats the difference, a 9 watt light in a 20 gallon tank with a coral 3" underneath it, or a 9 watt light in a 100000 gallon tank with the same coral 3" underneath it. Nothing.
Whats the difference, a 9 watt light in a 20 gallon tank with a coral 3" underneath it, or a 9 watt light in a 100000 gallon tank with the same coral 3" underneath it. Nothing.
Well, let's not knock VHO's too hard here folks. Sure they're not the newest/greatest thing out there. And they're very electrically inefficient, but he's not paying the electric bill. Yet, for their inefficiency, VHO's still do put out lots of light. They have internal reflectors, making setup relatively straightforward. And TBH, I've never really seen another light that gives that same VHO purple lighting, a truly unique look.
Dawhits, with that kind of lighting you could probably handle most lower light softies or easier LPS. You're prolly gonna get PAR ranges in the 50 on the bottom to 200 just below the surface. Powerful? not reallly, adequate, sure.
Dawhits, with that kind of lighting you could probably handle most lower light softies or easier LPS. You're prolly gonna get PAR ranges in the 50 on the bottom to 200 just below the surface. Powerful? not reallly, adequate, sure.
yea my dad isnt to worried about the electric bill. he was a shellfish farmer for about 15 years and had multiple huge freezers and fridges and a huge industrial ice machine out in the shop so he says he doubts it'll be that much of increase in his perspective atleast.
So Ski, is that with only 2 vhos in the tank that it would get those par levels, and would adding more of the same time of bulbs increase that number, or would you have to use a different kind of light.
At the lfs they had xenia and polyps and that type of stuff under vho lighting about 10-12 inches below the top of the tank and the lights were mounted about 5 inches above the top of the tank. and they looked really good compared to like the corals at some of the other fish stores I've been to.
So Ski, is that with only 2 vhos in the tank that it would get those par levels, and would adding more of the same time of bulbs increase that number, or would you have to use a different kind of light.
At the lfs they had xenia and polyps and that type of stuff under vho lighting about 10-12 inches below the top of the tank and the lights were mounted about 5 inches above the top of the tank. and they looked really good compared to like the corals at some of the other fish stores I've been to.
Adrinal
4k gallons and growing!
T5s are cheeper in the long run... not just electricity but the bulbs last WAY longer, brighter.... Its really a no brainer if you are going new. Used... ya everything works.
Tested one of my bubls after 2.5 years of use. 90% of the PAR still there.
New go t5 or MH... free used... go whatever.
Tested one of my bubls after 2.5 years of use. 90% of the PAR still there.
New go t5 or MH... free used... go whatever.
Hmm, fitting is a different story, my "48"" t5 was about 48 1/4" long with endcaps attached, i had to do some modifying to fit it in my canopy. It was about 47" with no end caps. So, take into consideration the endcaps and the endcap attachment.
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