What should I choose for my VHO (1 Viewer)

[alstang1]

I have 2x 175w 10k MH over my tank now. I am going to be adding 4x 36' VHO (powered by 660 ballast) to the tank today. I need to know what would be my best combination of lighting color for the VHO bulbs as I am going to pick them up today.

Thanks

Al

 

[robrog]

I think it mostly depends on the look you prefer. If you want more flouresents, go all 4 actinic, less go 2 actinic 2 50/50. The sunlights tend to have more of a pinkish look, so you could go 2 actinic 2 sunlight if you want. Since you have MH, I think the VHO will serve mostly for color, so it really depends on the look you want.

 

[alstang1]

I am not all up on the light thing, so let me ask. According to the above post, I am reading that, the only good 4 more lights on my tank will do is color??? I was assuming they would help with growth and appearance of the corals, and make it possible to have hard corals lower in the tank with no adverse effect.

Al

 

[robrog]

The VHO will help with coral appearance and growth as well, just not to the same extent as the MH. I can't tell you exactly how much difference there is in par output and growth potential in a sunlight bulb vs. a 50/50 vs an actinic. I still haven't found any good information to answer that question. A sunlight bulb is supposed to be better for coral growth, actinic is supposed to help coloration and appearance, 50/50 is somewhere in between. More light is always better, but it seems people tend to add VHO to MH setups for the colors produced by the actinics. Maybe someone else has more info on growth potential......

 

[djreef]

Since you're already running the 10000K MH - I'd go with 2 actinics, 2 50/50 like Rob says. That'd give you a real good color spread. I've had real good luck with the URI bulbs. Your PAR is going to go up either way - you are adding more lights. The idea now is to make it look pretty without growing a bunch of algae. The VHO gives you the opportunity to fine tune the color of the system. Hey, and you can set them up on timers to create a dusk/dawn cycle.

DJ
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[Guest]

to create a dusk/dawn cycle you turn the actinics on earlier then the sunlight then leave them on longer? I have read somewhere that actinics dont hold their color as long as sunlight -- so if you burn them longer each day & they dont last as long -- I assume you would need to replace them more often?

 

[alstang1]

Well the problem I am running into on the variable timeing is that I am running all 4 bulbs off of 1 660 icecap ballast. Is there a way to have a 2 and 2 setup for the bulbs on on icecap ballast, or is it cheaper to just buy another ballast in the future?

Al

 

[ShaneV]

You can do dawn dusk with dawn/dusk being the 4 VHO, and daylight being the MH.

 

[alstang1]

Aah yes. I see.

Al

 

[ShaneV]

Oh and there is no way to have two seperate off on times for 4 bulbs on an Icecap without another ballast.