Let's see your VHO only tanks

foresteronw · #1 01/14/2007, 12:01 AM

I'd like to see what everyone is keeping under JUST VHO lighting and nothing else.

O'Man · #2 01/14/2007, 12:30 AM

The 38 gallon tank (2_small) in my gallery was vho only. Icecap 430 with three 36" (95W) bulbs

frederickk · #3 01/14/2007, 09:00 AM

WOw that's a deep deep sand bed. How thick is it?

sds · #4 01/14/2007, 09:52 AM

there was a great thread on this a while back maybe someone will come up with a link

00nothing · #5 01/14/2007, 10:35 AM

heres a pic of my old 55 odno it kinda counts as vho wish i had kept this tank up longer was scared of odno back then so sold the tank and went t5 (never again) building a new 55 and going odno again but lots mor elight this time the first one was 2 4fters this one will be 4 4fters

sds · #6 01/14/2007, 10:39 AM

check this link out

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...s&pagenumber=1

00nothing · #7 01/14/2007, 10:49 AM

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=206608

mgny · #8 01/14/2007, 10:55 AM

Here are a few of my 180 , 3- aquasuns and 3- actinics 140 watters.

sds · #9 01/14/2007, 11:03 AM

nice tank

00nothing · #10 01/14/2007, 11:17 AM

mgny is the vho ure only lighting period ?

mgny · #11 01/14/2007, 11:52 AM

Yes it is. The tank was set up in 1996. Having no clue about reefs i stumbled upon the garf website. Leroy used vho's so i went with it. 10 plus years later that is what i use. I grow just about every kind of coral and clam that's out there. Got the exotic coral bug a few years ago and they also grow beautifully. As i have said many times before, lighting is way overrated in the hobby. Water quality and especially flow are underrated. I use icecap ballasts which are energy efficient and reliable. On a side note it's sad what happened to garf. Leroy was a pioneer in the hobby. Mike

The Haj · #12 01/14/2007, 11:56 AM

mgny,
That is a awesome tank,do you have pretty good growth with the vho,also how often do you change them out. Thanks Anthony

frederickk · #13 01/14/2007, 12:09 PM

Very nice tank

mgny · #14 01/14/2007, 12:20 PM

Hey Anthony, I change them once a year. They are uri bulbs, they might have changed the name recently though. I get amazing growth and color. Like all corals you need to find their sweet spot in the tank to optimize growth and color. A few more pics

All the colonies were grown out from frags. The last pic is the infamous tyree purple monster which i picked up from Maximus a year ago. He sent me 2- 1/4 inch frags which have grown into colonies.

The Haj · #15 01/14/2007, 12:35 PM

mgny,
Thanks for the reply!

Mimbler1 · #16 01/14/2007, 12:42 PM

MGNY, how long do you keep the VHO on per day?
thanks, Mike

mgny · #17 01/14/2007, 01:02 PM

Lights go on at 8:30 am go off at 9:30pm. The actinics go on first and go off last. I turn on the lights manually except for vacation time. I use a timer then. The on off times vary depending on beer intake from the night before!

Mimbler1 · #18 01/14/2007, 01:09 PM

Thanks mgny! I've been thinking I may run mine too much (although only 10 hours a day, because my sps is pretty light, and my LPS's definitely get to light, and don't expand as much as they did in the store, although growth rates are good. I might try phasing in and out with the actinics like you do. I run a big skimmer, and lots of carbon, so I suspect I'm getting more than average light penetration in the tank,
MIke

TCU Reefer · #19 01/14/2007, 01:23 PM

Wow, great SPS success with VHO's. Your tank is the most impressive SPS tank I've seen with a VHO only setup.

dhoch · #20 01/14/2007, 01:29 PM

WAMAS's current tank of the month is VHO only:

http://www.wamas.org/totm.php

Dave

mgny · #21 01/14/2007, 01:32 PM

Couple of other factors. My lights are about 2 inches above the water line. I leave the prime real estate for the acros. I started to collect some exotic zoas and palys to create a field on the bottom of the 24 inch deep tank. Was'nt sure how they would do. Like all other corals they are fine. My one polyp ppe frags have multiplied and their color has stayed beautiful. Funny thing is my skimmer is the original turbofloter 1000 i installed in 96. I get a kick out of people spending crazy money on those ferrari skimmers. I also run carbon and grow cheato and zenia in my fuge for nutrient export. The xenia i believe is a great nutrient exporter and nice to look at in the fuge. I get nice trade value as well at the lfs . I added a vortech pump a year ago and this improved the tank quite a bit. Flow is super important.

Melody · #22 01/14/2007, 03:22 PM

Beautiful tanks all!!

I converted to all VHO's several months ago and I have to say the corals are so much more vibrant/colorful and has good growth. I'm in the stages or re-arranging rockwork & corals. When, I'm satisfied (are we ever

) with the way it looks, I'll post some shots.

btw....look up member "pi" his tank is all VHO and is awesome. His tank was my inspiration.

Craig Lambert · #23 01/14/2007, 03:49 PM

630 watts vho over a 75G

frederickk · #24 01/14/2007, 05:03 PM

Wow nice tank craig

sds · #25 01/14/2007, 05:40 PM

i have this posted in the lighting forum and i dont want to hijack but has anyone ever tried to use reflectors from www.ah-supply.com with vhos. I konw they are made for pcs but they would be about the right size I would think. It seems that reflectors are just as important as everything else but nobody is using a parabolic reflector with a vho to my knowing. Just curious if you think it would work good