VHO Lighting?

Hey folks, aside from the constant debate between PC and T5 lighting, whats the opinion on VHO (specifically be Hamilton Technologies). It seems cheap to buy a 72" 4 x 165w fixture by them, and im thinking it might be a good choice for my 130 gallon I'll soon be setting up, but I haven't heard too much talk about it around here. What's everybody's thoughts and opinions on the matter?

 

i just got my first metal halide it's only 150 watts but it's outperforming 265 watts of powercompact, i am now a true believer! throw everything else away!lol

 

I would rather have VHO than T5's working in conjunction with my halides. better color IMO. But alas, I have already got the T5's so that's what I am using.

 

T5HO's are more intense then VHO, watt for watt.

 

t5's but only with uv bulbs,someone very wise once told me that the only thing that makes t5 worth plugging in is UV BULBS. gives great color for coraline and soft, and lps,corals. if you dont plan on keeping sps corals then i think t5 is all youll ever need. i even keep some hydnopora just higher up.

wait how deep is that tank, the depth of the tank and the corals you want will basically make the decision for you?

 

I farm corals, and I mainly run T5HO's for SPS, LPS, and various softies.


If you dont think T5HO's are good enough for SPS, read this...
Tank of the month

 

I also have clams under T5HO's

 

I personally think its all down to personal preference - as with enough of any lighting you can keep any coral.

 

You don't have to sell me on T5's thats for sure, only reason I am even considering using Halides is I got the set up for free! as son as I can afford to i am going to buy more T5's to add to what I have so I can toss the Halides

I wont argue that they might be more intense, I just have seen a friends tanks with both running on it, he was trying to make up his mind which to use also and i liked the VHO better.

Also with the VHO you get more watts per bulb than the T5's for example a 48' T5 bulb is 54 watts and the same bulb in VHO is 110 watts. So you would only need 2 verses 4 T5's. heck on a 24" bulb its 24 for the T5 and 75 for the VHO which 3 times as much wattage.

But it all comes down to what phoenixhieghts said "I personally think its all down to personal preference - as with enough of any lighting you can keep any coral."

 

Watts doesnt mean anything other then how much electricity the bulb consumes, thats all. Lumens(intensity/PAR) is what the difference is. Watt for Watt, T5HO's have more intensity. There was a study done testing the intensity of 4x54wT5HO's vs 400wMH's. The T5HO's had 32,000 Lumens per watt vs 20,000 Lumens per watt of MH. To figure out the differene in Lumens to watts is 1.8, so when comparing T5HO to MH, you have to multiple the watts of the T5HO x 1.8. So 216w of T5HO is EQUAL to 388 watts of MH. with almost half of the electricity used and no where near the amount of heat.

The down side to T5HO's is they dont penetrate like MH's. So if you have a tank deeper then 24"s, you need MH's.