VHO vs PC
- Thread starter saltyfish
- Start date
von_rahvin
Member
VHO's are he best bang for you buck. if you have he cash PC"s are great. you can build a VHO lighting system for around 1/2 the cost of a similar PC based system. icecap 660 $160 lights, 20- 30 if you buy in bulk, buy more than 6 they ship for free. always look for the scmas 
cheers
cheers
marinefish
Member
um..the last time i checked, power compact has true actinics also. i guess the true ones are label 03actinic. so look around, both vho and power compact are good. i think its up to your preference. =) i personally have 144 watts of power compacts on my 20 gallon nano reef. i think it looks great. try to get lighting systems with different switches for actinic and daylight lights. that way, you can get the dawn looking tank and ur corals and fish wont get blinded by the sudden lights coming on. =)
marinefish
Member
well..i am no expert but from what i was told, sudden high out put of lights from total darkness can really stress the fishes and corals. corals tend to stay shrivel up and produce mucus which really cause some problems when in contact with other corals. i know with my 144 watts of light all turn on at once, my corals seem to stay shriveral for a few hours. i dont know if that is in direct connection with the out put of lights but after i put speerated switchds on all 4 of my light bubls, the corals and fishes seems happier and dont seem as stressed.
my experience, my corals open completely when i turn on each light bulb one at a time. but when i do turn all on at once, basically most of my corals stay closed for a long time and when open, it dont seem to be open completely. i dont know if this helps but i hope it does =).
my experience, my corals open completely when i turn on each light bulb one at a time. but when i do turn all on at once, basically most of my corals stay closed for a long time and when open, it dont seem to be open completely. i dont know if this helps but i hope it does =).