what will help me mend faster? oh..i know....

thefatman · 04-15-2003, 03:53 PM

ok folks. my hand is killing me, my fingers are throbbing. but i finally figured out what will make my hand mend faster.

LIGHTS!

the last major purchase for the tank, before the cool stuff can go in. so i'm going to order lights TODAY. i mean afterall, i need to heal quickly

and i figure that new lights should speed my recovery by at least 50%!!!!

i KNOW i am going with VHO. i know i am going to use NO actinic blue bulbs in my existing ballasts for the blues. that way they can be turned on before and after the vho lights can. (the ballasts i'm getting for the vho's is in series, so if one is on they all are on, that's why i'm gonna use NO blues)

my question is.. what lights do i get for the VHO fixture?

65k, 10k, 50/50 and so on......

for those that dont know, the tank is a standard 55 gallon. 18"deep by 48" wide by 13"wide. it will have fish, softies, and EASY to keep stonies.

any suggestions?

Prismaco · 04-15-2003, 04:08 PM

Its true!!! They do make you recover faster. To top it, get a couple fishies....

-Paul

Brooke · 04-15-2003, 04:37 PM

How many bulbs can you fit on a 55? 3 maybe? If so..do 2 aqua suns and 1 50/50 perhaps. Get URI bulbs...they are the best.

What kind of ballast you getting? If you go Icecap you might as well shell out the bucks for a 660 for that inevitable upgrade later.

Calvinc4s · 04-15-2003, 05:23 PM

I agree with Brooke on the Ice Cap 660, you can aleays find a use for a ballast like that on any system.

thefatman · 04-15-2003, 05:25 PM

nope. no ice cap for me :-) i forget the name of the ballast, but it's nothing special. kinda big and bulky, and ugly. but it's only 70 bucks. it'll do two 6 footers or three 4 footers. i'll worry about a new ballast further down the line, when i get the 75 gal. plus i'll already have the bulbs, wiring, endcaps etc.. so i'll only need to pick up a ballast, THEN i'll snatch an icecap

since i'm making the canopy fairly high, i'll be able to fit 3 bulbs in it. but one of those will be my NO actinic blue, which i'll be running off a gutted versa hood. which only leaves me with two white bulbs. i'm going to use the ballast to run two 4 footers.

i'm thinking of getting the uri super actinic white bulbs. or one super actinic and one 10k or 6.5k daylight since thats what the lfs has in stock right now. in addition to the NO actinic blue.

either way, i'm pretty sure that 250 watts of light is going to be a whole lot better than the current 30 watts in there now

thefatman · 04-15-2003, 05:37 PM

oh and paul shhhhhhhhhh..

i already picked up four green chromis today. don't tell anyone, i dont want to get yelled at. besides, i'm injured, they'll make me feel better.

grazzit · 04-15-2003, 05:51 PM

Amigo, do me a favor and list the ballast you pick up. I'm currently just shopping around for a ballast before I install my lights.

Oh and I'm not gonna yell at you, I had 6 damsals and a tomato clown in my tank 2 days after I set it up =P Kinda funny, 2 months later and nowI've returned all the damsals (all the humbubs made it and the yellow tails... well they got eaten) and actually have less fish. Ahhhh well, live and learn =P

Flatfish · 04-15-2003, 09:00 PM

I'd run one uri actinic blue and either two 50/50 or two aquasun VHO. Ditch the NO. I have not tried the aquasun, but have heard good things. I have run the combo of two actininc blue and two 50/50 for two years on my std 55 and have had very good luck. I really think that coralline likes that combo.

Doug1 · 04-15-2003, 09:55 PM

By the way Jay FWIW the bulb harnesses seem to be the point that the clones differ from the Icecaps to avoid patent issues

thefatman · 04-16-2003, 01:40 AM

well my only concern with running three vho is that i will not be able to turn the blues on before the whites. because the ballast i'm getting is either all on or all off. so i wanted to run the blue as an NO, so i can do that.

i dont think i have room for four bulbs above the tank. looks like it might be rough getting 3 in there as it is.

but when i upgrade to the 75 gal, not too far down the line at all, by then i'll havea better ballast, or at least a second ballast which would allow me to run four vho's. ans then i can run two blue and two white and be able to operate them independantly.

oh yeah, and i'm running 46.5 bulbs not 48..

doug, cool thanks. i'm hoping this thing works out. it's the same ballast that the lfs has over all of thier display and sales tanks. and i've seen several canopies he's made for customers as well, so at least i know the ballast will work.