Lighting for 75 Gallon- VHO vs. Metal vs. CF

[Reef Fever]

I have a 75 Gallon Oscar tank that I am going to convert to a reef now that I am bursting out of my cool 20 Gallon reef setup. I was looking at getting a combo light, like the Hamilton or something (MH and CF), but now I am debating whether or not to just go VHO with four 110 watt bulbs (=5.89 Watts/ Gallon) in a homemade hood. I need to save cash if at all possible, and it looks like I can come out a lot cheaper with the VHO setup.

I know Metal Halide may be ideal, but I am concerned about the price and the Heat if I have to use a homemade hood. The ceiling above the tanks is sloped, and does not lend itself to a hanging MH setup.

I get conflicting reports on CF vs. VHO concerning the life of the bulbs and reliability. The CF manufacturers (I have a JBJ on my 20 Gallon and I love it for that small tank) would have us believe that they will keep their spectrum longer, shine brighter, and last longer- but this is not what I hear from many people that have used larger CF setups.

I am leaning towards the VHO because of many of these things, and because I could add two more bulbs later, pumping 8.8 watts/ Gallon into this tank- I feel like I could control the heat in a homemade hood with good fans.

Also, I am interested in good sources for input on the making of the hood and purchasing the caps/ ballast. I am new to this forum, but I have been impressed with the activity and the quality of the responses I have seen. Thanks again,

Fever
8)

 

[Tybond]

Hey Reef,

I have only been doing this for a year, so I am no expert, but I can speak from self experience and say that the CF do work pretty well.

I used 8x55w CF on my 55 until earlier this week. They worked well for me but when it came time to replace the 8 bulbs, I decided to upgrade because the cost wasn't much more.

VHO actinics WILL look better but they need replaced sooner than CF. Approximately at a 2:1 ratio but cost runs about the same when you consider a CF bulb cost more than VHO. Actinics anyway

I would suggest you look into Hellolights.com to get a good price comparison on your bulbs. They also carry retro kits for CF that are IMO a good price.

As for the hood construction, where to start...

I made mine from 3/4" cabinetry grade ply and it worked out very well (In My Humble Opinion) I made the canopy 3 sided so the back is totally open for air.

One big advantage to building your own hood is you control how far above the water you want the bulbs.

There are some good DIY ideas to check out on the web if you get time.

Log onto google and do a common search for " REEF DIY " You will find a lot of other neat articles along the way.

DIY Canopy
How to wire your own lights
Alternate sources for ballast other than the aquatics industry..

these are where I started.

Peace
ty

 

[Reef Fever]

You mentioned that you upgraded from your CF setup- which was 8 Watts/ Gallon. What did you upgrade to and what impact has it had on your system?

Again, thanks for the reply-

Fever

 

[Tybond]

Fever,

I just got my upgrade running yesterday so I can't really give you a good or bad statement yet.

I was running:

2x55w pc 10,000k
2x55w pc 10,000k - 03 actinic
4x55w pc 03 actinics

440w @ 8 wpg

I upgraded to dual 175 w mh but kept the 4x55w pc actinics. The mh's are 10,000k ushio.

So I'm now running:

2x175w mh 10,000k
4x55w pc actinic

570w @ 10.3 wpg

The one thing I will say for sure is I LOVE the look of the halide over the pc's alone!

The tank is WAY brighter and the shimmer just looks cool to me.

My only concern with the setup is heat. I have a canopy with two 4" fans but I'm not sure yet if I will need to add different fans. Mine are cheepies from some MO company ment for commercial use in electronic enclosures.
They don't give a CFM so I don't know if changing to something like CSL fans would make a bit of difference.

Oh the fun of DIY :wink:

ty