I already have a 4 55 watt power compacts on my 90 but i want to get either two Vho 110 watt bulbs or 250 watt metal halide. Which do you think i will be more happy with and my corals i only keep softies. I really cant decide and the Lampsnow coupon is done by tommorow. Help me decide. Whai would you do.
What should i gte VHO or metal halide CANT DECIDE
- Thread starter kipreefer
- Start date
The 48" lengths not the two foot bulbs. Sorry i may have wrote it wrong. The 48" 110 watt bulbs. What Kelvin spectrum would you recomend getting if i go with the halide i have two atcinics and 2 daylights on my PC. I was thinking of going with 10,000 k or should i get 6,500K. Im looking for a warm white light.
Just because someone uses VHO over MH doesn't mean that there electric bill will be lower. Watts are Watts no matter how you power them. The icecap 660 puts out 440 watts and PFO dual 250 watt ballast will put out 500 watts. There is only a 60 watt difference. Thats not going to impact your electric bill by very much at all. Your electric bill is charged per kilowatt. Besides, the payback on using an electronic ballast over a tar type ballast will be like 7 years with the pennies that'll be saved. With all of that said, I'd say go with metal halide tar type ballast. The extra cost of an electronic ballast is not worth it IMO.
Mariner, that's not how it works. Just because it is putting out 500watts says nothing about what it is drawing from the wall. MH draw much more than PC or flourecent and an electronic ballast runs cooler and more efficient and BRIGHTER! I know this for a fact. I do some indoor gardening and switched from 400w MH w/electronic ballast to 440w VHO for my indoor veggies and herbs and saw a hell of a difference in my electric bill...about $10-15 less a month depending on what cycle I was in. VHO cost me ~$10-15/month to run, MH=$22-30/month to run. Might not sound like alot, but it adds up in a year.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Kipreefer:
<strong>The 48" lengths not the two foot bulbs. Sorry i may have wrote it wrong. The 48" 110 watt bulbs. What Kelvin spectrum would you recomend getting if i go with the halide i have two atcinics and 2 daylights on my PC. I was thinking of going with 10,000 k or should i get 6,500K. Im looking for a warm white light.</strong><hr></blockquote>I was saying that it seems stupid to me to use pcs on a 4 foot long tank becouse they dont cover the whole tank and in the end you have to use too many bulbs.
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>
<strong>The 48" lengths not the two foot bulbs. Sorry i may have wrote it wrong. The 48" 110 watt bulbs. What Kelvin spectrum would you recomend getting if i go with the halide i have two atcinics and 2 daylights on my PC. I was thinking of going with 10,000 k or should i get 6,500K. Im looking for a warm white light.</strong><hr></blockquote>I was saying that it seems stupid to me to use pcs on a 4 foot long tank becouse they dont cover the whole tank and in the end you have to use too many bulbs.
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>
A 250 watt coil ballast will typically draw about 285 watts to run. So about 570 watts for two lights.
While the Icecap will power 4x110 bulbs, but only draw 340 watts I think. I know it is only in the 300s.
Now electronic ballasts are about 98% effecient, so they don't waste the electricity as heat like the older ballasts. But when said and done, it takes right about 3 years for them to pay for themselves (also remember that the bulbs 'should' last longer on electronic ballasts).
I think that 4x110 VHO setup over that tank will be an excellent setup for most soft corals. And be nice looking.
I would personally run 3 Aqua sun's and 1 actinic if you want a warm white light. If you want more blue, then two aquasuns, and 2 actinics or maybe one actinic and one 50/50 type bulb.
While the Icecap will power 4x110 bulbs, but only draw 340 watts I think. I know it is only in the 300s.
Now electronic ballasts are about 98% effecient, so they don't waste the electricity as heat like the older ballasts. But when said and done, it takes right about 3 years for them to pay for themselves (also remember that the bulbs 'should' last longer on electronic ballasts).
I think that 4x110 VHO setup over that tank will be an excellent setup for most soft corals. And be nice looking.
I would personally run 3 Aqua sun's and 1 actinic if you want a warm white light. If you want more blue, then two aquasuns, and 2 actinics or maybe one actinic and one 50/50 type bulb.
I just recently got my first taste of metal halides and I can't believe I never looked into them before. It's a completely different look from PC's. IMO it really makes your tank look like a little slice of the ocean. Colors are much more realistic(if that's possible). I would reccomment halides to anyone who is sitting on the fence between VHO's/PC's and MH's.
I have an 80 gallon tank with two 250 watt metal halides. They have Blueline 10k bulbs. I also added my set of PC's from my smaller tank which added two 55 watt PC bulbs. 1 10k and 1 actinic. I think the color combo is perfect. The halides are a little bit too much blue without the PC's to balance it out. The PC's don't have the halide look of deep water and they aren't what I would consider enough light. But together they are wonderful. I may not have the best power bill but I am in California and am used to getting a good boning around bill time...
Barry had 400's on one of his tanks and went back to the 250's due to heat problems. He also has the 65k bulbs and says he isn't happy with the yellow color. There is a difference between our tanks for sure but I think it is a preference. His tank is beautiful too just a different look.
Barry had 400's on one of his tanks and went back to the 250's due to heat problems. He also has the 65k bulbs and says he isn't happy with the yellow color. There is a difference between our tanks for sure but I think it is a preference. His tank is beautiful too just a different look.
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