PC, MH w/VHO, or VHO?

[kpyto71]

Boy oh boy... I have read a bunch on lighting and I think I'm pretty confused at this point as to what lighting would be best for my 90 gallon. I would eventually like to have this tank as a fish/invert tank with some soft corals. With that in mind, I'm sure that most would agree that somewhere around 3 to 5 watts per gallon is a fair amount of light.
That being said, can anyone give a quick and dirty low down on what would be the better way to go, and why? Or maybe a pro's and con's list? I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with this question, but I can never seem to find such information... Am I just asking too much?

 

[kpyto71]

bump

 

[broncofish]

After batting around the same exact question for about 4 months, I have decided VHO, and here are my reasons.
1. If my son looks directly at the VHO bulb for a while he might get a head ache, but will not burn his retinas(unlike MH)
2. The VHO IMO look better that PC's
3. I just want softies so VHO will be plenty of light
4. If I did want to keep more light sensitives later I can always add a MH bulb or 2 at that time.

 

[kpyto71]

Is VHO harder to acquire? I always see stuff for MH and for PC... VHO it seems I just hear about it, but never see it...

 

[reef fool]

Go with an icecap 660 ballast with the 4 - 110 watt bulbs as suggested by DvSkin. 2 daylight and 2 actinic. Plenty of light for softies and some LPS.