VHO Lighting

[thirty5]

I have 4 strips of VHO in my canopy. Do they degrade like a MH does. Or do i just wait for them to go out, and then just replace them? I want to get all blue Actinics, have 2 white 2 blue now. But they still work, and have other things i can waste my money on!

 

[Deanos]

VHO Lights

 

[MikeyNYC]

1 Year Life. I just changed mine out after about a year and you will be amazed with the difference in color and brightness of the new bulbs.

 

[thirty5]

Thanks Deanos...

4-5 months to replace. That is more often then MH. Crazy

 

[Deanos]

That article is probably outdated, but replacement is definitely warranted before they go out completely

 

[MikeyNYC]

That is crazy, but then again, I'm not seeing amazing growth in my tank year round, so maybe it holds some weight. The manufacturer's recommendations are to change the bulbs out every 12 months. I would have waited also, the bulbs work fine, and the color didn't look bad. I changed them because I started to grow hair algae, and I never had algae once, even through early cycling days, so attributed it to the lights or lack thereof.

 

[thirty5]

I guess i will just change them. I did not buy them new and, not really sure how old they are. Prob is that i have to change 4 MH 250W bulbs, and 4 VHO bulbs...........OUCH for my pocket!

 

[JBNY]

I used to go a year. but I found that they go at about 10 months.

 

[thirty5]

Oh boy.
Now where to buy them from and not ge raped on the shipping charges!!

 

[JBNY]

Most times you are better buying local, shipping charges generally kill you.

 

[MikeyNYC]

Hellolights.com, and shipping isn't out of hand, last I checked it was the cheapest way to go.

 

[qckwzrd]

hellolights doesn't carry Giesmann tho. I need to buy some new T5 bulbs myself

 

[thirty5]

I will give hellolights a look.
Thanks for the info.