[AQman]

I am setting up a new 80 gallon reef to upgrade from the old 60 which has 440 w of PC on it.

I was wondering whether it would be a better idea to supplement the halides with VHO's rather than PC's.

What do you all think...

[chromis]

If you already have the PCs then that is what you should use. PCs are sooooooo much more efficient then VHOs, VHOs are usually cheaper though....

HTH
Andrew

[Ironreef]

I doubt pc are more effiecient than vho they can use the same ballast. If I were buying new I would by vho the bulbs can be cheaper which would make up if they were a little less effiecient. But since you already have pc I would just use the pc.

[dsb1829]

I would get out of the PC while you can. Bulb prices alone will help you in the long run. I have been nothing but happy with the VHO setups I have run. It is also nice if you go with an Icecap that you can throw in a NO tube in the event of bulb failure or if you want to run cheeper bulbs than VHO. You will have to weight it out yourself on the cost side. It really depends what wattage and how many of either type you would be running. As far as actinic is concerned they both offer 03 true actinics now, so you could just keep your pc and replace the bulbs.

[AQman]

Thanks for all the input, but price isn't too mush of a concern, I have LFS connections and get everything @ price. I was more concerned with the quality of the light that is given out.

What company makes true actinic 03 PC bulbs? I don't know if I can get them from our distibuters.

Stephen

[SPasse]

Chromis,

Actually watt per watt, PC lamps are only marginally more efficient than VHO lamps.

However, for a given wattage, because they are smaller, you can fit slightly more of them in a given space.

The “big” advantage that PC supposedly have over VHO’s is mostly smoke and mirrors.

Regards,

Scott Passe

[Steve]

The URI super actinic are in my opinion the best true actinic bulbs.
http://www.marinedepot.com/a_lt_fl_bulbs.asp?CartId=