Vho question

alison · Feb 15, 2005

Hi, I'm updating my lighting. I'm thinking of doing a 48" Icecap Vho Retrofit with 4 lamps, so total 440Watts. This would be around 300$. So, is there heat issues with Vho's like there are with pc's? I've heard their just about as good as mh's but not the same heat, is that true? So, I could just attatch them to my hood, just like I do my pc's, and no need to have them a certain distance from the water like metal halides? I was told on my 55 gal, that I cannot do metal halides without a chiller unless I do a pendent. Thanks in advance, Ali

starfishjackedme · Feb 15, 2005

You can do whatever you want as long as the hood is ventilated well. You can most certainly run MHs over a 55 without a chiller. Point source lighting like MH will have all of the heat in one place and it is spread out with VHOs. You can run either or a combination of both depending on what corals you are going to keep. I had 440 watts of vhos over a 55gal and scaled it back bc it was just too much. My shrooms and zoos in that tank did better with 220 watts. I had them a few inches over open water.

flatzboy · Feb 15, 2005

Watt for watt MH, vho, pc's all produce the same amount of heat.

reefraff · Feb 15, 2005

Originally posted by FLATZBOY
Watt for watt MH, vho, pc's all produce the same amount of heat.
That actually doesn't hold true because the watts are what goes into the ballast, not out. MH puts more heat in the water because it is more centralized, the light and heat are hitting the water in a much more focused pattern than fluorescents.
I run T5's which are overdriven to 100 watts. One of them doesn't get nearly as hot as the 110 watt PC fixture I have.

alison · Feb 15, 2005

Do you guys think I could do the dual 175 watt magnetic mh's though? I know magnetic's not typically as good, but it's more affordable for me right now. I could really modify the hood to make it way taller, and add fans, and cut slits in the top of the hood. Do any of you have mh's in a non airconditioned house? Does it work, or do you have to do the hanging fixture thing. Thanks, ali

reefraff · Feb 15, 2005

How hot does your house get? It's a sinch that if you are hitting more than 80 during the summer you will have heat issues.

alison · Feb 15, 2005

Hi, the hottest inside the house ever was 86 in mid summer. It was a heat wave outside at about 95 at the time. The tank got up to 84 then with my 220 pc's. But I didn't do fans at all, or change the lighting setup at all. I did do the frozen milk jug trick at night to lower down to 82, and it worked. I just dono if fans work for most people, but everyone is sayin it, so It must work. ~Ali

reefraff · Feb 15, 2005

I wouldn't try halides. You will need fans with whatever lights you do use.

bang guy · Feb 15, 2005

Originally posted by reefraff
That actually doesn't hold true because the watts are what goes into the ballast, not out. MH puts more heat in the water because it is more centralized, the light and heat are hitting the water in a much more focused pattern than fluorescents.

If the same amount of heat is spread out over a wider area it still heats the water up just as much.

alison · Feb 16, 2005

Thanks for the replies. Now I'm leanin Vho's just because of the hasle sake of havin to modify my hood and everything with mh's, and maybe I'll just wait til I can afford electronic balast. So with vho's they said on --, that watt for watt a pc is brighter, and they said that a 55 watt pc is brighter than a 96 watt vho. SO if I got the 4-48 inch 440 watt vho retro kit on a certain store who says HELLO and is a LIGHTING place, would that just be as bright as my 220 watts of pc's I have right now? I don't care really about brightness too much, but I want my corals to be happier, not the same as they are now with the lower light. So would that be a good set- up by the way, for 169$ Is ARO for a brand any good. Or should I spend twice the price and get icecap balast vho retro kit. Thanks in advance~Ali

bang guy · Feb 16, 2005

Originally posted by alison
So with vho's they said on --, that watt for watt a pc is brighter, and they said that a 55 watt pc is brighter than a 96 watt vho.
Don't misinterpret this to mean that PC puts more light in the water because they don't. VHO put more light in the water, not much more but definately more. Don't take my word for it, look up "Dana Riddle" on Google. He tests lighting and he does it well.
FYI - a 20 watt Halogen light is 500% brighter than a 96 watt PC lamp but only puts out 3% of the amout of light.
The IceCap is a great ballast IMO. You can light PC, T5, VHO, even NO lamps off the same ballast. You can also mix & match for some great effects. It's well worth the extra money.

steveoutla · Feb 16, 2005

Bang - Does this mean that 440w of VHO is better than the same wattage of PC for keeping corals and anemones?

bang guy · Feb 16, 2005

I am a firm believer in "it depends".

Some corals do better with more intensity, some don't.
It has been my experience that most green or orange LPS & soft corals do better under VHO and Blue, Yellow, Pink & SPS do better under PC in general. That is my experience in my tank. Your results could be the total opposite. That's another reason I like the IceCap. You could put VHO across the tank and pinpoint a Yellow Sarco with a PC right over it.

alison · Feb 16, 2005

Hi thanks Guy, I decided to go Vho after doin some more research, and your right about them being better overall light. I decided to go with that ARO deal though. I couldn't find a vho icecap deal for under 320 with lights, so I decided to go this route. I found deals on icecap balasts, but I'm not a wiring expert, but my bro is, so he said I could buy a icecap in the future, and he could wire it up for me, and do whatever. It's great to have a big brother to help ya out with such stuff. Thanks for all your info guys. It's comin in 2 days too, so I'm happy. It's goin to be SOOO great, I can't wait. I should probably cut back on the amount of light the new fixture will be on at first right? I have my lights on for 10 hours right now. But half the tank is dark too. I had 220 pc's. half 10k, half actinic, and my vho's will be 440 watts, and same half 10k, half actinic. I did get one usk sunburst 10k though to try out for now, but I may change that in a week. Any thoughts on amount of time, and this usk or usp sunburst 10k bulb? Thanks, alison

reefraff · Feb 16, 2005

Originally posted by Bang Guy
If the same amount of heat is spread out over a wider area it still heats the water up just as much.
That would hold true in a non vented canopy. Because halides radiate the heat so far away from the source a lot of it still reaches the water even running a fan. With fluorescents you just have more of a chance to vent the heat out before it reaches the water.

reefraff · Feb 16, 2005

Originally posted by alison
Hi thanks Guy, I decided to go Vho after doin some more research, and your right about them being better overall light. I decided to go with that ARO deal though. I couldn't find a vho icecap deal for under 320 with lights, so I decided to go this route. I found deals on icecap balasts, but I'm not a wiring expert, but my bro is, so he said I could buy a icecap in the future, and he could wire it up for me, and do whatever. It's great to have a big brother to help ya out with such stuff. Thanks for all your info guys. It's comin in 2 days too, so I'm happy. It's goin to be SOOO great, I can't wait. I should probably cut back on the amount of light the new fixture will be on at first right? I have my lights on for 10 hours right now. But half the tank is dark too. I had 220 pc's. half 10k, half actinic, and my vho's will be 440 watts, and same half 10k, half actinic. I did get one usk sunburst 10k though to try out for now, but I may change that in a week. Any thoughts on amount of time, and this usk or usp sunburst 10k bulb? Thanks, alison

Just as a heads up, If you do decide you want to get an Ice Cap ballast in the future a URI A4 ballast is a less expensive version of the 660 ballast. Both made by Ice Cap, the URI just doesn't have the capability to be hooked up to a dimmer

golfish · Feb 16, 2005

Ali, 440 watts of VHO are going to put out about the same amount of heat as 500 watts of MH's...the MH's will put out about 60 watts more heat...Its all the same and don't let anybody tell you diff.

alison · Feb 16, 2005

Thanks guys, ya I figure there might be heat issues, so I'm adding fans in the hood, but it will be MUCH easier than trying to modify my hood. And I really want a hood for the looks. No offence guys but I'm not too into the pendant or hanging fixture look. I'm going to definately do mh's in a few months, and then add half the vho's to my other tank, and then 2 reefs, so kinda a 2 for one deal, so that's cool. Thanks again, Ali

golfish · Feb 16, 2005

Originally posted by alison
I'm going to definately do mh's in a few months, and then add half the vho's to my other tank, and then 2 reefs, so kinda a 2 for one deal, so that's cool. Thanks again, Ali
Come on, stop jerking are bobbers..

flatzboy · Feb 16, 2005

Originally posted by alison
Thanks guys, ya I figure there might be heat issues, so I'm adding fans in the hood, but it will be MUCH easier than trying to modify my hood. And I really want a hood for the looks. No offence guys but I'm not too into the pendant or hanging fixture look. I'm going to definately do mh's in a few months, and then add half the vho's to my other tank, and then 2 reefs, so kinda a 2 for one deal, so that's cool. Thanks again, Ali
Sounds good you could easily modify your canopy to make it higher for MH and still have it look good.

Vho question

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