what is VHO lighting?

I will check, Im pretty sure it was a molex type connecter.

I guess if I do it, Ill just have to add an extra fan..

Thanks guys K+

 

yes, that and the bulb color will be altered when running them at more watts.

I am not a fan of ODing t5ho bulbs. The minor PAR gains are not worth the added electrical costs, and the shortened bulb life.

Is there any particular reason you want to OD them?

Are you not getting enough light as is?

 

Yeah, over driving a T5 is possible, but not generally advisable. Better to add 2 more bulbs - more light and cheaper in the long run.

 

Ok guys thanks for the replies. but I'm still not understanding somthing. The fixtures. What is a true VHO fixture? I see Normal O Fixtures and HO fixtures but I dont see VHO fixtures. Besides a couple companies online (such as the link I provided) that says there fixture can accept T5 and VHO bulbs. The fixtures and bulb compatibility with diffrent fixtures is where I'm more confused, not on the diameter size or the par values of the bulbs.

For instance. Foster and smiths website. has fluoresent fixtures, compact fluoresent fixtures, T5 fixtures, metal Halide fixtures but only VHO bulbs. no fixture ??? what Im I missing??/

 

I was talking to my LFS about overdriving T5's recently. He said that IceCap has backed off their claims that there is any real benefit of OD'ing T5's. As I understand, Icecap were going to do a shootout and post data results, but supposedly because their results didn't mirror their claims, they ended up leaving it alone... has anyone else heard this?

 

It's not the fixture that matters, but what ballast it has. You can overdrive any fixture if you change out the ballast and get an Icecap 660 ballast or comparable ballast. A HO fixture just comes with a ballast that will cause the bulbs to have a higher output then say a normal output ballast.

 

What G man said is right, but also the end caps are a tad different from a t12 to a t5 endcap. It really is all dependent on the ballast.

As far as IC backing off their OD' t5 claims, that would not surprise me. IC said the OD'd t5 would be the best fluorescent lighting available and all these other claims. When you take into what you lose by OD'ing them, their PAR gains thewy suggested were still not even worth it. Add int hat that nobody else was able to get the same results as IC, then that makes the idea even worse.

The dumb thing about IC's verbiage when T5ho first came to America (I was one of the first in the US to adopt to a solely t5ho lit reef tank ), was that they made it sound like their VHO 430 and 660 ballasts were designed to run t5ho. They certainly were not designed for that and actually got quite lucky that it even worked.

One tank in articular I can mention was run my all OD'd t5ho with 6 OD t5ho. It grew well, but everything was very pastel, like bleached out. Switching to only new bulbs of the same brands, and literally just going to std ballasts (actually workhorse IIRC) it had the same growth, but better color. And less electricity usage and better bulb life.

 

Thanks for rebutting it.. I can actually just another 2 bulb fixture.. I have a canopy, so its function over style.. Maybe a retrofit is in order.

 

Unless you are a no canopy type of person, a retrofit is by far the most cost effective and flexible method to add t5ho to a setup.