[SKRIZ]

I am working on a 35" tall tank. with the sand and such it will effectively be 30" (i think...need to measure). I am going with 250w mh as the main lighting and wanted to add others for the dusk/dawn effect. what do you giys think? t-5 or vho?

[Reefland]

I think either will be fine. Since your not looking for any additional output, go with whichever works on your budget and with your system. For reliability, an Icecap retro kit is hard to beat.

[Ray_D]

Originally Posted by SKRIZ

I am working on a 35" tall tank. with the sand and such it will effectively be 30" (i think...need to measure). I am going with 250w mh as the main lighting and wanted to add others for the dusk/dawn effect. what do you giys think? t-5 or vho?

i would go with t-5's but atm i have pc

i have 4 pc bulbs on two diffrent ballists split between the mh reflecters


schedual
pc 1 ( bulds spread between both mh reflectors ) on @ 8 am
pc 2 on @ 8:30
mh1 on @ 11:30
mh 2 on @ 12:00

mh 2 off @ 6:00
mh1 off @ 6:30
pc 2 off @ 9:00
pc 1 off @ 9:30

[charlie]

I am a vho actinic fan myself. I think the corals floresce, (sp?) better with VHO's

[Reefland]

I agree Charlie, the VHO actinics are the choice in my opinion.

[The Grim Reefer]

I am a T5 guy. T5's kick the living snot out of VHO's in every way....

Accept for actinics.

If you plan on using 10K lamps for your halides, which you should in a tank that tall, the combination of URI's VHO actinic/10K halide is hard to beat.

If for some reason you do have to run T5's I would run 1 actinic plus which is a 450nm blue light (about like a 20K radium halide) and a Pure Actinic 03 which is a 420nm actinic. The combination looks really nice.

[SKRIZ]

thanks for the help guys! Looks like the overwheleming opinion is vho. Now, how would I set them up? Should I put the bulbs along the edge of the tank (viewable sides) or should I put the across the tank in between the halides?

Oh, and I take it that URI is the way to go?

[SKRIZ]

wow Grim, I don't think I have ever seen you stray from T-5's. Very unexpected

[charlie]

Originally Posted by SKRIZ

thanks for the help guys! Looks like the overwheleming opinion is vho. Now, how would I set them up? Should I put the bulbs along the edge of the tank (viewable sides) or should I put the across the tank in between the halides?

Oh, and I take it that URI is the way to go?

I have all my VHO lites on the edges of the tank. They come on 2 hours before and stay on 2 hours after.
Yes URI is the way to go, good choice my friend, you will be happy.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by SKRIZ

wow Grim, I don't think I have ever seen you stray from T-5's. Very unexpected

If you are only going for looks and not PAR why not go for what looks best? I like the looks of the T5 actinic plus better than the VHO actinic as a stand alone lamp for dusk dawn but for supplimenting halides the VHO can't be beat, yet. If I had an unlimited budget I would try a combination of 6500 and 20K halides. The pictures I've seen of that look fantastic but I'd hate to pay the bill for the electric to run the chiller and lamps.