Bulbs on Ice Cap 660

[specter]

I just bought an Ice Cap 660 on ebay. What bulbs would you recommend setting it up with? (NO, HO, VHO, PC, how many?) I'm putting it on a 40gal breeder. Will start with mostly LPS and a few soft corals, then migrate to include a couple SPS.
Your thoughts??
Thanks

[specter]

anybody?

[Reefland]

Hi specter, Welcome to Reefland!

I would recommended VHO's, besides why by an IceCap ballast and not pump the light they were designed to pump. You could put 4 VHO's over your 40 gallon breeder and have a nice lighting set up. I would go with 2 Actinic White and 2 Actinic bulbs from URI.

Scott Z.

[dougc]

Your other option would be T5 bulbs. They are thinner tubes, but they don't have an internal reflector like the URI VHO bulbs. They are reported to be quite efficient, especially with a well-designed reflector. Sunlight Supply and others sell endcaps, reflectors, et. al. for T5 bulbs. Some purport that you can fit more T5s in a given space because they are smaller, but I don't buy that, since you need a reflector to get the full advantage of the bulbs and the reflectors are about 2" wide.

You can run NO bulbs with a IC660 and get almost the same intensity as VHO bulbs, but I don't think the bulbs last as long. This article on IceCap's website discusses the use of NO bulbs.

[specter]

thanks guys, I think I'll run some cheap NO bulbs while my tank and LR settle down, then maybe do the VHO thing...didn't know if anyone out there had a different idea.
Thanks again! Im sure youll be hearing more from me as I plan this setup!
Jared

[Elmo18]

Hi specter, Welcome to Reefland!

I would recommended VHO's, besides why by an IceCap ballast and not pump the light they were designed to pump. You could put 4 VHO's over your 40 gallon breeder and have a nice lighting set up. I would go with 2 Actinic White and 2 Actinic bulbs from URI.

Scott Z.

I would second Scott's idea 4xVHO's hmmm nice and bright, not quite up there with halides, but its good.

- Elmo

[ASH]

From IceCap:
You can also run the HO T-5's or a mix of VHO T-12 lamps and HO T-5 lamps on one of our ballasts. When running the 54-watt (46") HO T-5s on an IceCap VHO ballast they run at 85 - 90-watts per lamp, and it shows.
The SLR (single lamp reflectors) are a must and soon our own version of them should be available.
Andy