Probably buying PCs

[hunterdaddy]

I think I have decided to go with PCs. I have a 55 gal and the PCs I am going to go with are 48" and equal 4 watts per gallon. Price is about 350$$ any websites where I could find this cheaper??? I also am going to keep my other 2 lights and put either 50/50s or blue actinics in them. will equal about 4.5 watts per gallon then. Sound good???

 

[javajoe]

I've got a 55 and went with VHO- worked great for me, and i spent less than 300. $200 for the icecapp 660 ballast, and made my own lite hood, under $100 for the lights, clips, and endcaps.
I just have 2 strips of VHO right now, but am adding 2 more soon.

 

[bbreaux1]

ive been looking into pc lights i can get 4 55w pc for 124 but you still have to get bulbs wich is about another 100$ but i still think its a pretty good deal its from ahsupply but i have been looking into vho alittle bit but think ill land up with pc

 

[ofalegend]

I've been pricing PCs lately, too. at Hellolights.com, I figured I could wire the lights, including ballasts, end caps, lights,clips, and power cords for $198.62. That's not Icecap ballasts, but they are designed for 2 55watt PCs, so for 4 PCs, you'd need 2 ballasts; however, at $28.95 each, that's still roughly a third the cost of IceCap ballast, and as best I remember these ballasts have three year warranties. The bulbs are 21" each, I think, so for a 55 gallon tank I figure one actinic and one daylight over each opening in the tank should suffice for soft corals/anemones. I've done some considerable research and most people tend to agree that 4 55w PCs shoudl suffice for what I'm wanting. I'm not sure if you use one IceCap ballast if you have to turn them all on/off at the same time or not (but I would imagine you do), so I wanted seperate ballasts so I could do 2 hours of actinic, then 8 hours of actinic/daylight, then finish the day with two more hours of actinic. It's something worth checking into if you're thinking about building your own canopy
~Michael

 

[tiggerbengal]

I was looking on Big Al's not long ago, and they had a ballast that held 2 96 watt bulbs for just around $100....... NOt a bad price. Whenever I can get better lighting, I plan on ordering from Hello Lights ..... They seem to have good prices on their ballasts!