replacing vho's
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Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Equipment
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URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15916
Printed Date: October 04 2025 at 6:54am
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Topic: replacing vho's
Posted By: z28xtreme
Subject: replacing vho's
Date Posted: January 06 2007 at 9:24pm
| im trying to decide on what light set-up to get for a 75 gallon tank. i was curious as to the life of bulbs. i currently thinking about doing 2-150 MH and 2 48'' VHO's. any suggestions welcomed. |
Replies:
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: January 06 2007 at 10:09pm
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That sounds like an excellent choice. 10-12 months life expectancy on the bulbs. A T5 setup would be another excellent choice. -------------  |
Posted By: Kevin
Date Posted: January 06 2007 at 11:17pm
| So, does actinic bulbs actually do anything for corals or is more for the viewing pleasure of the owner? If they are for viewing pleasure only then do you really need to replace them after 12 months? What bad can result from having old Actinic bulbs? |
Posted By: z28xtreme
Date Posted: January 06 2007 at 11:34pm
| dont you lose wattage with the t5 setup? or do you use more bulbs? |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: January 07 2007 at 12:08am
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Yes you do lose wattage. That is a good thing. Since the bulb is a very small diameter the reflector is able do direct more light downwards so you use more of the light and less electricity. ------------- |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 07 2007 at 5:54pm
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The usable life of VHO's is actually about 18 months if used with electronic ballasts. I prefer 3 Super Actinic URI brand VHO and one Actinic-White URI brand VHO used in combination with two 15000 Kelvin MH lights. T-5's as used today are more effecient using less power per lumen of light produced, but do not deliver as many lumens as a VHO tube. Unfortunately, most of the T-5's I've seen in service fail to light within a year.
Wattage is a term which actually tells how much electricity is used. Lumens is the amount/intensity of light coming from the bulb/tube. Unfortunately, lumens is not a good measure of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), the measure of how much good coral light is being produced.
Actinic bulbs/tubes produce bluish light at a wavelength (420 nm) that most coral seem to need. SPS coral is the exception, because most varieties of SPS live in shallower water where a wider range of the light spectrum is available. Though whiite light has this 420 nm wavelength, Actinic tubes produce only this color so electricity/energy isn't wasted producing a wavelength of color which is not as beneficial to coral.
I invite you to examine these pics of the lighting that reaches the ocean and with an understanding that, with the exception of Acropora and related SPS coral, much of the coral we keep comes from depths of 10-50 feet, decide for yourself if actinic light is necessary or not. (photos courtesy of Jacque Cousteau)
    ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: z28xtreme
Date Posted: January 07 2007 at 6:58pm
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so how would you have the bulbs arranged if you used two MH and 3 Super Actinic and one actinic white VHO's? two in front of mh and the other 2 in back with the white being closest to the MH, so its closest to the center? where would you put the one actinic white? |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 09 2007 at 9:25am
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Why not come check it out? See below. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Kevin
Date Posted: February 27 2007 at 3:17pm
So I would like to respond to my own question. I am going to say YES. I have been using the same VHO Actinic bulb for approximatly 2 or so years now and thought nothing of it. It was still blue and therefore to me it was serving its purpose. Also recently (and for the past long while) I have been struggling with algea/cyano and having some corals slowly not doing so well. Well in January I replaced my MH bulbs and that made some difference and then in Feb. I replaced by 48" VHO actinic bulb and that made a huge difference. I don't know how much it contributed to my algea growth (I had gotten that under control before replacing the bulb) but I would say some of my corals are doing MUCH better. I did use chemi clean on the cyano but it was acting like it was going to come back until I replaced the bulb. Just thought I would share my experience. |
Kevin wrote: