[Tom K]

I am setting up a 90 gal. tank. It came with a canopy with a retrofit VHO fiture to hold 4 110 watt bulbs. I don't hear much about VHO's. Someone told me that it is old technology?? Will these get me started for a while till I get a better lights?

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[masterswimmer]

Tom, the VHO's will be fine to get you started. You won't have great success with the more difficult corals, LPS and SPS. But softies and leathers should be fine. Not sure if you mean just cycling your tank with the VHO's, because that would absolutely be fine too.

Russ

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

	LPS Large Polyped Stony corals – In the aquarium hobby this is a common division of the species of stony corals based upon the visual assessment of the size of the polyps. Corals in this category were among the first stony corals to be kept successfully in captivity and include many very beautiful species. Commonly kept Genera include Euphyllia (hammer/frogspawn coral), Favia (brain coral), Plerogyra (bubble coral), Lobophyllia (meat/tooth coral), and Caulastrea (candycane coral). LPS corals also include the popular solitary non-colonial stony corals such as Fungia (plate coral), Cynarina (button coral), Trachyphyllia (open brain coral), and Herpolitha (tongue coral). Like their SPS counterparts, LPS corals require good water quality, intense lighting of the appropriate spectrum, adequate water movement and regular supplementation of calcium.

[newtoit]

Quote: Originally Posted by masterswimmer Tom, the VHO's will be fine to get you started. You won't have great success with the more difficult corals, LPS and SPS. But softies and leathers should be fine. Not sure if you mean just cycling your tank with the VHO's, because that would absolutely be fine too. Russ

I beg to differ the guy that got me into reef tanks has the same thing 440 watts of VHO and he can keep and grow anything he wants I get alot of my sps from him and mine do great and I have HO T-5s

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

	LPS Large Polyped Stony corals – In the aquarium hobby this is a common division of the species of stony corals based upon the visual assessment of the size of the polyps. Corals in this category were among the first stony corals to be kept successfully in captivity and include many very beautiful species. Commonly kept Genera include Euphyllia (hammer/frogspawn coral), Favia (brain coral), Plerogyra (bubble coral), Lobophyllia (meat/tooth coral), and Caulastrea (candycane coral). LPS corals also include the popular solitary non-colonial stony corals such as Fungia (plate coral), Cynarina (button coral), Trachyphyllia (open brain coral), and Herpolitha (tongue coral). Like their SPS counterparts, LPS corals require good water quality, intense lighting of the appropriate spectrum, adequate water movement and regular supplementation of calcium.

[NYreefNoob]

t5 isnt vho, i have both, i use the vho for my antic's though. and unless as stated you plan to do or go sps i would suggest at the time to upgrade light's. if you just plan fish only or zoa's, leathers and such the vho will be fine

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[newtoit]

I know t-5 is not vho but what I am saying is that people under rate vho lighting IMO I think it is pretty good lighting he keeps everything he has under them and he has alot of SPS

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[masterswimmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by newtoit I beg to differ the guy that got me into reef tanks has the same thing 440 watts of VHO and he can keep and grow anything he wants I get alot of my sps from him and mine do great and I have HO T-5s

Quite a bit of missing information here. What size tank does your friend have? Is his tank 24" deep as well? VHO's are great for actinic lighting. As for the primary lighting in a shallow tank they can work too. I wouldn't even use HO T5's (of which I have been running for over four years btw) on a tank deeper than 20", so using VHO's on a tank even 20" deep is very restrictive. It would push the reefkeeper to position all the light demanding animals in the very top section of the tank, whereas with the appropriate MH lighting the high light demanding animals can be kept on the sandbed if you wanted to aquascape that way.

Guess there are differences of opinion.

swimmer

	MH Metal Halide Lighting, typically used for high intensity light demanding corals such as SPS. Bulbs come in varieties of spectrums (7k, 10k,20k), and intensity (175W, 250W, 400W).

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[NYreefNoob]

lol russ i was going to say the same thing but not up to debate what i am not using, because 1 person may get away with something does not me you or anyone else will, and try keeping a purple monster or some of the other hard to keep sps under vho will = a white coral

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[masterswimmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYreefNoob lol russ i was going to say the same thing but not up to debate what i am not using, because 1 person may get away with something does not me you or anyone else will, and try keeping a purple monster or some of the other hard to keep sps under vho will = a white coral

Exactly Rick. That's why a blanket statement that you can keep anything under VHO lighting is inappropriate. You never know who is reading the suggestion or recommendation.

swimmer

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.

[newtoit]

sorry I jus glanced quick and dod not see the tank size he has a 75 gallon sps/mixed reef

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

[masterswimmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by newtoit sorry I jus glanced quick and dod not see the tank size he has a 75 gallon sps/mixed reef

No worries. His tank is actually a 90g, so it's 4" deeper than the 75g. Makes the situation even worse for the VHO's.

Having conversations like this is a good thing. It can bring certain arguments to the table that someone might overlook. Nice to see nobody here took anything personal. Never meant that way

swimmer

	VHO Very High Output Fluorescent Lighting - Fluorescent bulbs that run on special ballasts and have an output that is significantly higher than normal tubes. It is very possible to run an entire reef system on VHO lighting providing the proper number of bulbs and mixture of spectrums are chosen. For most hobbyists, these tubes are used in conjunction with Metal Halide lighting for simulating dawn and dusk. They often provide the "bluer" end of the light spectrum and thus a more aesthetically appealing display.