Any where to get a cheap VHO set up

I can build MH setups far far cheaper than you can buy them

 

I need to show you guys the canopy that I just got from this guy on ebay. It is 48 inch has internal ballasts and he customized it for me. I payed $175 for it fully assembled without the bulbs. Its a awesome light. He works for a lighting manufacturer and builds these on the side. He had only sold a few. BTW the bulbs for mine cost 21 bucks each. I got the URI bulbs from captivereefs. Let me know if you want to get in touch with this guy that builds these VHO canipies. They are of excelent quality.

Jay

 

Jey, you have a user ID or email I can contact him with? how many watts was it

 

I will PM his email because I dont have his permission to post it openly but he wont mind if you email him. Just ...ya know there are spiders that search webpages for email links to send spam. The light is awesome. Heres a pic. Its kinda dark but you can see it. Also heres the link to the auction that I won when I bought it. Check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...p;item=4346150770&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

Jay

 

nice, is that open or do you have a glass cover?

 

I've read where the vho's put out more light than the T5"s. Has anyone looked into the solar dimmers for these? I'm thinking about the 750.

 

Where did you read this? Because I would like to see the results. Watt for watt the t5's put out more lumens than VHO. It is newer technology and the bulbs are almost half the size. 5/8" vs 1 1/4". For example an F54w/t5/865 is a 4 foot t5 bulb that consumes 54 watts, produces 4700 lumens with a color temp of 6500 kelvin compared to a f48t12/cw/1500 4 foot vho bulb that consumes 110 watts and produces 4030 lumens at a color temp of 4100 kelvin. Plus the hour ratings on the bulb are 20,000 for the t5 and 10,000 hrs for the t12. I realize the ratings are in lumens cause that's what lighting manufactures use and not very often do you see their specs in PAR values. ;D
I'm not even sure this is where this post belongs, I wish I had bought T5's instead of VHO's so I could tell you the rest of the story. This thread should be helpful http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=lighting;action=display;num=1106688758

 

month's ago a I read an article, not sure on the internet. I was interested in the T5's but this article showed where VHO's were actually putting out more lighting. Now I Don't know how true this is but real interest is the 14k and 20k MH bulbs and which ones I think I would like to use. I'm running dual 250 watts on a 90gal. Have one 14k and one 20k because the other 14k broke while packing. They say the blue spectrum is what looks brighter to the fish and corals rather than the white.

 

Check out petsolutions.com, thatfishplce.com and foster and smiths online for aquarium lighting. Corallife and Orbit make power compacts at a reasonable price. Make sure you have 4-6 watts per gallon. If you want to keep clams you will need metal halides and have to bite the bullet .

 

I use VHO's with MH's and read that T5's to close together cause more heat and some are not sure about the light penetration in a deep water tank. They mostly all agree that MH's are better for sps. Cost wise a new T5 setup can be expensive if using ice cap ballasts. The T5 bulbs have a longer life span and more lumen's. Have to have the right type of reflector also. The answer? Use T5's with VHO's and MH's. That's what one fellow did because he liked the T5's, alot.