Re thinking My Lighting

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by E-A-G-L-E-S

does fluorescent light penetrate as deeply as halide? more? less?

so why all the talk about and $ spent for halides of all degrees and kinds and Lumenarc's and such....iyo?

Once it gets through the surface of the water, light is light, florescent penetrates just as deep, it is getting it through the surface that is the trick. This is why you want fluorescents as close to the water as possible.

No matter the lamp, good reflectors are the best thing you could do for yourself, they don't take power to run

The simple fact is, that people like glitter lines, and halides for that reason. Also until very recently decent reflectors have not been out for florescent lamps, making them less effective, and you had to cram a bunch of them in your hood to get anything to grow. When faced with all that trouble and expense MH look like a pretty easy option.

But People have been growing SPS under VHO lamps for years, not me, but people. If you really want to flip your lid, check out the nano SPS tank that uses NO fluorescents

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Wrasse, if you tell me which picture was supposed to go where, I could edit your post at the start of this page and insert them.

HTH,
Whiskey

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Wrasse, if you tell me which picture was supposed to go where, I could edit your post at the start of this page and insert them.

HTH,
Whiskey

Done.(made refernce to) still cant get pics to work i made have made a mess of the orignal post

[Wiskey]

Ok the pics on the top of page 2 now work for me, what about everyone else?

Whiskey

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by E-A-G-L-E-S

that goes against everything i've read and been taught in my short year and a half reefin.....so why 400W halides? why $130 reflectors? Why tests on PAR for every bulb and people using 6.5K and mostly 10K for growth?

I am in no way saying you are wrong....i just am hearing this for the first time and i a mjust trying to understand.

My thoughts are this.I have a friend that owns a shop on his old 110g he had 2 400w hamiton 14k and 440 65k VHO very light fish load his colors were amazing but had a DSB and light all ran close to 12hrs.Even on RC you see alot people with problem with higer light and BB tanks i know that if i tried to run my lights for 9-10hrs my corals would cook.since getting the 400 watters ive never been able to run more 6 hrsI think alot depends on the nutrient load the tank carries.Like you i always thought the same thing.now i'm rethinking this.Ive seen a few great tanks my size (120) running 660 watts VHO and BB look awsome.Ive been thinking about down grading to 2x175w MH with 5X110w VHO or just giving the full VHO a try.

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Ok the pics on the top of page 2 now work for me, what about everyone else?

Whiskey

Thanks

[Wiskey]

No prob, If you were thinking about going full VHO a try, I would look into T5. They put out the same light at half the wattage, provided you get the good reflectors.

Whiskey

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

No prob, If you were thinking about going full VHO a try, I would look into T5. They put out the same light at half the wattage, provided you get the good reflectors.

Whiskey

Your right,But man the cost is high.But for me to go 660 watts i would only need to spend about $60 1 ballast 2 bulbs.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by wrassie86

Your right,But man the cost is high.But for me to go 660 watts i would only need to spend about $60 1 ballast 2 bulbs.

Good point, if I had all the stuff for VHO already, I probably would have stuck with it too.

Whiskey

[wrassie86]

Well it looks like good calls were made on the lighting.About time to pull out the camrea again and post update pics.I'm pretty sure i see more green.on another note since the change a wild coral that i picked up about year ago has been brown ever since.it is now starting to show dark purple tips

I also came up with my final plan for the lights.I'm going to do a sunrise to sunset thing with 550w vho. 2x110w attinic 2x110w 50/50 110w 65k. with the 400w MH hitting for a few hrs during the middle of the day.Altho i think i would be better served trading them off for 250's or 175's tho.we will see. cause I'm not so sure about the 950w peak.
I went through a long VHO thread on another forum and saw some amazing Acro tanks the size of mine using just 660w VHO.