Ho/vho?

[jevan23]

Planning my new lighting setup for my 70g and stumbled across a site that has a good discription of wattages for different types of lights commonly used in reef aquariums(not going MH, so didnt bother checking into). http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/fluorescent
Also did some surfing, found out some specs on 4' bulb lumens.

T5HO(54W) - 5000 lumens or 92.6 lum/watt
VHO(110W) - 5940 lumens or 54 lum/watt

By the looks of it, you can get almost twice the amount of light output from the T5HO for the same amount of power. Also found many statements that HO runs cooler than VHO.

On the other hand, VHO can have internal reflectors, almost eliminating the need to buy reflectors...

ive also heard VHO 'looks better', but i doubt HO looks horrible.
:confused: Any advice from someone whose already travelled this road?

[Invigor]

I've seen paul's t5 HO setup, and I admire the color he gets. It's very white and the actinics make his corals scream fluorescence. VHOs on the other hand to me..are pinkish. yes the colors of the fish are absolutely amazing, but I don't like the pinkish color you get from the 10000k bulbs.

I think the internal reflectors in the VHOs are rated for 40% reflecton which isn't that fantastic. You'll also notice they play us for fools with the "300% light increase" with the t5 parabolic reflectors, because they compare it to the bulb with no reflector at all, whereas in your canopy, you can have it reflect off flat white, which has a pretty high reflect/diffuse % versus open air. (you've taken statistics, you know how rating things in %'s can be mangled to make anything look impressive or horrible)

So in my opinion, the difference between the two is if you like white/blue or pinkish/blue, and how far you're going to bend over backwards to get what you like, for the simple fact that t5s use a lot less power, as you already know. -I- prefer the t5ho look.

[stinga]

I also agree with Invigor-Paul's t5 HO's are great looking lights,they are ****** bright okay,and the colours(light) in his tank are fantastic,I really like the white over pinkish!:) I will probably go with T5 when I am ready to light up my 50 gal..lol..if mom doesn't mind all the tanks..lol..

[Cutter]

Planning my new lighting setup for my 70g and stumbled across a site that has a good discription of wattages for different types of lights commonly used in reef aquariums(not going MH, so didnt bother checking into). http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/fluorescent
Also did some surfing, found out some specs on 4' bulb lumens.

T5HO(54W) - 5000 lumens or 92.6 lum/watt
VHO(110W) - 5940 lumens or 54 lum/watt

By the looks of it, you can get almost twice the amount of light output from the T5HO for the same amount of power. Also found many statements that HO runs cooler than VHO.

On the other hand, VHO can have internal reflectors, almost eliminating the need to buy reflectors...

ive also heard VHO 'looks better', but i doubt HO looks horrible.
:confused: Any advice from someone whose already travelled this road?



Yep you should take a good look at T5's. They run cool, bulbs can be had for a very low price. They are compact, and the color they produce is amazing!

I have PC's on my tank also and they certainly do give off a more pink color than the T5's.

Some people say they are hard on softies but mine seem to be doing just fine. My xenia is right at the top of my tank taking the full brunt of those T5's and they aren't cooking at all.

I also have purple mushrooms about 4 inches below the surface and the T5's aren't shriveling these up either.

Want stonies? My Monit Cap has taken off since I fired those T5's up! Its litterally grown 3/4 of an inch in all directions in about a month and a half.

If you want to stop by and take a look your welcome to.

I'll probably be jumping on the next Tank Tour we do. (Not this one the next one)

Paul

[jevan23]

Sweet, thanks for the invite! Another question i have is how many should i have? my tank is a 70g (4' long, 18 1/2" high and 18 1/2" wide). With reflectors, im thinking 4x54W bulbs. Would this be sufficient to keep a fairly broad range of corals? I definatly dont want to kill the poor buggers by starving them of light or by roasting them. Lights will probably be 3-4 inches from surface of water, and my sandbed is about 1 1/2 inches deep. (lights would be about 20" from top of sandbed) also have various depths of rock(DIYLR):D .

[stinga]

Is that the "concret" rock?I was curious as to exactly how that worked out?It would be great it a guy could mold his own seascape!:rollface:

[THEKID]

Hey Cutter, what kind and how many T5s are you running on your tank??? I've long been thinking about upgrading to T5s but I have been getting conflicting info on them and PCs. Right now I have 2 96w PCs on my tank and was thinking of upgrading to 4 39w T5s. Some say 4 T5s would give off more light as my 2 PCs, some say they would be equal. What do you think? I don't want to spend money just to get something that is the same as what I have now.

Jeret

[THEKID]

T5HO(54W) - 5000 lumens or 92.6 lum/watt
VHO(110W) - 5940 lumens or 54 lum/watt



Jevan, can you please list the web page where you found this info. I couldn't find it on the one you did list (maybe I didn't look hard enough). Thanks

Jeret

[Cutter]

Hey Cutter, what kind and how many T5s are you running on your tank??? I've long been thinking about upgrading to T5s but I have been getting conflicting info on them and PCs. Right now I have 2 96w PCs on my tank and was thinking of upgrading to 4 39w T5s. Some say 4 T5s would give off more light as my 2 PCs, some say they would be equal. What do you think? I don't want to spend money just to get something that is the same as what I have now.

Jeret

They are PFO lamps from J&L. 1 - 10000K and 1 - Actinic

Mine are the HO bulbs, 55W each. I didn't even read into the normal output ones. I wasn't interested.

I would have to say that 2 HO T5's will be brighter than your PC's.

I have the Coralife 48" 4x65W PC fixture and the two T5 bulbs put more light into the tank than the PC's do.

My only concern is that if I throw 2 more HO T5's on my tank that it may be to much for softies. I guess I'll find out.

The T5 HO's certainly won't be the same as what you currently have.

Paul

[jevan23]

the DIY live rock turned out pretty good, just have to be really, really patient :icon_conf . I used crushed oyster shells from cowtown, about $11 for 40kg, used that and some cement from home depot. Molding your own shapes is a bit harder than you'd think, then again i have no artsie creativity(One of the reasons im in school for engineering). Had them in my tank since about april, they've all grown brown algae, and some of them are turning green now(under 3 NO flourescents).
As for the lumens i found on the vho/HO's, i got the ratings from
http://www.seasky.org/aquarium/aquarium_faq_page03.html for the VHO's
and
http://www.specialty-lights.com/plant-grow-faq3.html for the HO's.

[Cutter]

Great Family Guy reference btw.

[jevan23]

lol good to know theres family guy fans in here