NEED HELP:>

[martinc909]

TO HAVE CORALS I NEED AT LEAST 4 WATTS PER GALLON RIGHT. THOSE LIGHTS FOR A 55 GALLON TANK COSTS AROUND 320 DOLLARS.
MY QUESTION IS THAT THEY SELL BALLASTS. IF I BUY ONE OF THOSE INSTEAD OF THE WHOLE LIGHT FIXTURE WILL IT WORK THE SAME AND WOULD IT HAVE ANY PROBLEM
I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF ANYONE SENDS PICS OF THE VHO LIGHTING THAT THEY DID THEM THEMSELVES.
i'm thinking of adding coral now and i'm running short on cash and i just want to see how it looks like to see if i could try to buy one and do it myself.
I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT
THANK YOU

 

[lubeck]

You could buy, according to what I have read on this site, that you can get Mh, 2x250 and maybe a couple of vho for the price your talking about. Don't go by watt per gallon, go by what you want to put in your tank, meaning, what types of coral. Even though your short on money, like we all are with this hobby. Don't JUMP THE GUN and just buy the quickest the you can afford because, like myself you will regret it later when YOU WANT MORE AND DON'T HAVE THE PROPER EQUIPEMENT. If you get the Mh's then you can get anything you want. Thats my .o3

 

[sdsupilot]

i am in the same situation you are in right now... new lights are expensive and trying to decide on what you want is hard. i almost bought a vho ballast system but decided not to. after talking with some other people in this great hobby i decided to save my cash and get a MH system. this definately cost more but i think in the long run it will save money because i wont have to upgrade my lighting again. but if you do decide to get the vho they are rather simple to wire up, you just need to make sure to get the endcaps and wires to hook to the ballast. hope this helps....