vho vs. compacts ?

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afkouns

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Feb 22, 2003
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As i stated in a previous post, I have 4x96watt compacts over my 125g reef tank. I was looking at getting some more light since I'm barely over 3watts per gallon. I already spent a lot of money on my compacts and would hate to have to reinvest on a whole new refecter plate and compact assembly. Plus 2 more compacts wouldn't realy fit well evenly in the lighting skeem. 2 are 10k's the other 7100k's. If I added 2 more compacts it would realy work well. Thats why I was thinking of 2 VHO's, 1 being 10k and the other atinic.

I wanted to know if VHO's run significantly hotter then compacts? Also, are the VHO with built in reflector in the bulb descent at all?

I'm running mainly polyps, toadstools and mushrooms. I also have a open brain and molar corals. Going to add xenias soon. No plans for hard corals.
 
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afkouns

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Well simply because I'm in conflict of how to arrange 6 bulbs. I either have to run 4 10k's and 2 atinic or 4 atinic and 2 10k's. Also if I went with 2 60" VHO's I could puse a litte more wattage. I would have 140watts each bulb over 96watts per bulb. Currently it works out to 3 watts per gallon. With 2 more compacts I would have 4.6watts per gallon. And with 2 VHO's I would have 5.3 watts per gallon. Also the lights are mounted on top of the canopy about 10inchs above. The tank is 24inchs deep too.
 
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afkouns

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By the way. My question wasn't answered about how much heat the vho generates over a compact.
 
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a_free_bird73

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Jun 13, 2002
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I can't answer the heat question since I have never used VHO's. However, it is not the wattage per gallon that you should be concerned about, but rather the light output per watt and where is it focused as well as the reasons for you need more light. If you don't have hard corals, I would struggle to justify having any more than you already have.

In any case, actinics are more useful for "most" corals. The 7600K bulbs are for our visual enjoyment rather than functionality (not always though). So you can have 5 actinics and only one 7600K as long as you like the final look of the tank. I would say 4 actinics and 2 7600K will look just fine...
 
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BrianH

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I do not have any experience with VHO's either, but I like the look of mostly 10k with some actinic supplementation. You could also mix 10k, 8800k 6500k and actinic to get the full color spectrum. I like the look of the blue actinic at times, but I don't think I'd appreciate a tank that is mostly lit by actinics.

Brian
 
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afkouns

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right now i have 2x96 6700k's and 2x96 that are called blue right now. I think I will change to real 10k's and real atinics. I was told by a few people at the lfs that I might be able to get away with running my 4x96 over my 125. I might try it for now and see how the corals do. Otherwise I think I might add another 2x96 and either run 4x96 atinics and 2x96 10k's or the other way around. What do you think of either combo?
 
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BrianH

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As I stated above, my preference is towards the 10k not actinics. At most I would go 50/50 10k/actinic. If you go with the 6 x 96, since you already have 2 6700 k , you could do the following:

2 x 96 @ 6700k
2 x 96 @ 10000k
2 x 96 @ actinic.

You could also start and end your daily lighting cycle with the actinics only. Many reefers with metal halide do this to simulate dawn and dusk. It may not matter with to the inhabitants with lower intensity PC lighting, but you do get to enjoy the blue actinic look for a period of time also.

Brian
 
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afkouns

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I use the atinics to simulate dawn and dusk already, thanks. I also use the atinics to during the mid-day to have full power on and also reduce the yellowing from the other compacts. I have the atinics on for 2hours, then the 6700k on for 1, then all on for 6hours, 6700k for 1 hour, then atinics for 2hours. I think I would like to run the 10k's the 6700k's are kinda yellow. I also like your idea of 4 10k's and 2 atinics.
 
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