PC vs. VHO whats the difference?

jewban

jewban

Member
I have a satellite 4x65 dual daylight and actinic with two moonlights on my 55 and its been for about 4mnths now and its really great, but all this talk about vhos and what not, i was wondering, ill be upgrading to MH soon enough and should invest in VHO lighting for the actinic side? whats the difference between VHO and PC cus i was just planning on taking apart my current fixture and retrofiting it to go w the MH...anyways thanks in advance
Ryan
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
for pure actinic supplimentation IMO VHO is your best bet, it gives off a much more true actinic color and also makes the corals look alot better.
 
hedonic

hedonic

Member
If you are running MH as your primary light source I would opt for the PC. They put off less heat and draw less power. Bulbs should last a little longer (although they are a little more expensive to replace) and the ballasts for PC are a little cheaper (at least where I am getting them). Plus actenic suplementation is just that a supplement. It probably wont affect coral growth to the extent that VHO's slightly higher wattage and lumen out put is worth sacrificing the aforementioned benifits. Although as was already said
Originally Posted by oceana
for pure actinic supplimentation IMO VHO is your best bet, it gives off a much more true actinic color and also makes the corals look alot better.
which is deffintly true. Well it really boils down to a subjective appraisal... just my two cents!
 
matty0h_52

matty0h_52

Member
I think it really Boils down to personall perfrance. I have a PC fixture (4x96w-2actinics2daylight) and i have seen many tanks that have VHO and MH combos. and everyones right the Actinics seem to be brighter in the VHO and MH set up. But then on my new tank i have 4x250w MH with all 20,000 bulbs and the colors seem to pop out more so then the VHO combo.
 
hedonic

hedonic

Member
Those 20K bulbs rock. I have two 175watt MH 20K's and I love 'em. Slow growth though... Before I had two of the 20K's I was using a 6k bulb from a freshwater tank as a filler 'till I got the other 20K, that side of the tank exploded with coraline and my SPS shot out. But everything looks brown and nusince algae takes over the glass... kind of funny though.
 
acrylic300

acrylic300

Member
What is the difference between VHO and PC?
What is considered VHO (Very High Output)?
How much output does a PC (Power Compact) haft to have to be considered VHO?
Or are VHO's only T5 (size) Bulbs?
And one last Q. Is 20k bulbs considered actnic? I know they are very blue.
Whats the difference between K and nm? and what do they stand for? I know one is Kelvin.
I did not make this post, but I would like to know these answers please :joy:
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic300
What is the difference between VHO and PC?
What is considered VHO (Very High Output)?
How much output does a PC (Power Compact) haft to have to be considered VHO?
Or are VHO's only T5 (size) Bulbs?
And one last Q. Is 20k bulbs considered actnic? I know they are very blue.
Whats the difference between K and nm? and what do they stand for? I know one is Kelvin.
I did not make this post, but I would like to know these answers please :joy:

haha holy crap.
VHO is not t5 size really all they are is super built NO bulbs that are driven harder.
you have the following choices
NO( normal output)
HO( high output)
VHO(very high output)
PC( power compact)
t5(the "newest" bulb on the block)
MH(metal halide)
these are all different systems. one cant become the other. VHO and PC have about the same output levels. its very debatable.
t5 are reported to be even better then pc and VHO, more light output and less energy. not much proven and reliable info is out on these yet, some even say its the same or better then MH but i find that to be far from true.
i'll address one since i have them. the 20 is blue but its not as blue as some may think and it sure as heck is not actinic. i use 3 400 watt 20k radiums only. and it has two great things. the tank is bright white and the corals still look as if its only actinic only. you get the glow from your corals that actinic gives you without having to have ONLY actinic lighting on. I LOVE THEM.
one con is that some corals will not grow as fast due to the high rating. but you cant prove that by my monti's they have nearly doubled in size in only 8 weeks.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
They are both flourescent lighting. PC bulbs are smaller and thinner than VHO. They are supposed to put out more usable light per watt than VHO's.
VHO's are T-12 bulbs. T-5 are HO. PC are not VHO at all, they are two completely different lighting systems. It's not as if a pc bulb has to put out so many watts to be considered VHO, they are completely different lighting systems all together.
I personally prefer VHO actinics over PC actinics. I used to run a PC hood, as soon as I switched to actinic VHO's, I saw an immediate difference in the color's of my corals.
Yes K is Kelvin and nm stands for nanometers. K represents the color in degrees Kelvin at which the bulbs burn. Nanometers represent the exact spectrum of light the bulbs put off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top