enomadra
Member
Hello,
I just thought I would post this up after trying it out. I recently bought one of thoughs 4 X 55 watt fixtures from ---- that are only 79.99. Well I guess you get what you pay for. I did not like it at all. it looked like two 55 watt lights running not 4. Well after waisting my money on that I decided to try my hand at using a different lighting system. I did some research and found this company called URI (Ultraviolet Resources International). They have lights that are both VHO and non-VHO with a built in reflector (so you dont have to buy one). I was told they put out 40% more light than a standard light of the same size and wattage. I decided to try one out (because I have so much money to just burn....yea right!). Anyway I took the 220 watt fixture off my tank and held the 1 light I had above the tank, and when I fliped the switch on......WOW!!!!! This 1 30 watt 36" light was a bright as my 4 - 55 watt PC's. needless to say I was blowen away and had decided at that point I was replacing all my lights. So I bought a IceCap 440 ballast and 3 more of these lights ( they are called a Actinic White). They give off the 10K and true actinic 03 spectrum and are 36" long at 30watts each.
well after installing them (all 4 ) into my canopy I have to say I am very impressed with the results. I am now using only 120watts (much better on the power bill) and I am getting almost the same results out of the corals. I do have to say that the light looks a little pink but is very bright. Oh and another cool thing that happend is that I don't have a heat problem anymore. Because my ballast can run either the 30 watt or the 95watt VHO lights I have room to grow and change. I think this is a great system to use becuase of the cost and room to upgrade.
I am currently working on a system that is going to allow me to ajust the distance of the lights from the surface of the tank. Right now they are mounted at the very top of the canopy and I am going to be able to move them to sit right near the top of the tank when I am done (I am using water proof fixtures). I will post up the results and some pictures of how this ajustable light system is designed.
I made this change in my lighting on 10-14-03 (my site shows 11 as the month, that is a type-o it should be 10 for the month)
Here is a link to see the before and after
The first set of pictures shows how the tank looked with 330 watts of PC's. The second set shows some the the corals using only 120 watts of the new lighting. The second set of pic's were tanken more than a week after the lighting change to give the corals time to ajust.
I just thought I would post this up after trying it out. I recently bought one of thoughs 4 X 55 watt fixtures from ---- that are only 79.99. Well I guess you get what you pay for. I did not like it at all. it looked like two 55 watt lights running not 4. Well after waisting my money on that I decided to try my hand at using a different lighting system. I did some research and found this company called URI (Ultraviolet Resources International). They have lights that are both VHO and non-VHO with a built in reflector (so you dont have to buy one). I was told they put out 40% more light than a standard light of the same size and wattage. I decided to try one out (because I have so much money to just burn....yea right!). Anyway I took the 220 watt fixture off my tank and held the 1 light I had above the tank, and when I fliped the switch on......WOW!!!!! This 1 30 watt 36" light was a bright as my 4 - 55 watt PC's. needless to say I was blowen away and had decided at that point I was replacing all my lights. So I bought a IceCap 440 ballast and 3 more of these lights ( they are called a Actinic White). They give off the 10K and true actinic 03 spectrum and are 36" long at 30watts each.
well after installing them (all 4 ) into my canopy I have to say I am very impressed with the results. I am now using only 120watts (much better on the power bill) and I am getting almost the same results out of the corals. I do have to say that the light looks a little pink but is very bright. Oh and another cool thing that happend is that I don't have a heat problem anymore. Because my ballast can run either the 30 watt or the 95watt VHO lights I have room to grow and change. I think this is a great system to use becuase of the cost and room to upgrade.
I am currently working on a system that is going to allow me to ajust the distance of the lights from the surface of the tank. Right now they are mounted at the very top of the canopy and I am going to be able to move them to sit right near the top of the tank when I am done (I am using water proof fixtures). I will post up the results and some pictures of how this ajustable light system is designed.
I made this change in my lighting on 10-14-03 (my site shows 11 as the month, that is a type-o it should be 10 for the month)
Here is a link to see the before and after
The first set of pictures shows how the tank looked with 330 watts of PC's. The second set shows some the the corals using only 120 watts of the new lighting. The second set of pic's were tanken more than a week after the lighting change to give the corals time to ajust.
