Buying Used Lights

[ChrisKil]

I am trying to upgrade my fish only lights by finding someone tearing down a tank and buying their used lights. The problem is I don't know enough about lights and corals to know what I need. For example this is for sale on my local forum. Is it a good deal, can I keep most (if not all) corals with VHO lights?

IceCap 660 w/wiring harness
8 Endcaps
4 48" VHO (2 blue/2 white)
- Asking $200.00 -

/// Edit: I have a 125 tank thats 72" in length. Also, is there anything specific I need to look for to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.

[schoch79]

First off that doesn't sound like a bad deal but if you are looking to keep most/all different kinds of corals you would be looking into getting t-5 HO lights or metal halides. VHO's aren't horrible lights and have there place but just don't put out enough light for a lot of the more demanding corals. If you get t-5's try to get the ones that have individual reflectors.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Let's get one thing clear - VHO's put out more light per inch than T5's. The deal that makes T5's more desireable is that you can cram LOTS of them over a tank and still use good reflectors, since they're so small. When people are talking about putting just a few bulbs over the tank, the differences aren't so great.

At any rate, the first thing to find out is how old those bulbs are - VHO's don't last as long as some other types, a year is definitely pushing things. So if the bulbs are more than a few months old, you can pretty much write them off, since you'll need to replace them soon.

Secondly, 48" bulbs over a 72" tank aren't going to work well. You'll have to stagger them, which will lead to less light across the tank and potential for patchy, dark areas. If you were using this rig to add actinic (blue) supplementation to MH or something, then this wouldn't matter, but when shopping for fluorescents as a primary light source it's always best to match the bulb length to the tank length (or some factor thereof, i.e. 3' bulbs on a 6' tank).

An Ice Cap 660 is a great ballast, and the newer versions of it are able to run quite an array of lighting. New, they're probably about $160 or so. Those endcaps are probably worth $15 a pair new, so that's $60. Figure $25/each for bulbs new, so that's $100. To buy that rig new would run you about $320, so IF the bulbs are relatively new AND you decide that you actually want that rig, it sounds like it is a fairly good deal. Keep in mind that you'll need to set up some decent reflectors to get good output from those bulbs, so add another $20 - $50 on top of that.

Oh, and FWIW, I would pass on that rig, personally. It doesn't seem like an ideal fit for your tank, and output wouldn't be good enough for more demanding livestock.

[ChrisKil]

Thanks guys, I'll pass on the lights. Does anyone know a link to good threads to help me decide on what lighting I need?

[der_wille_zur_macht]

There aren't really any thorough, up to date, unbiased guides out there I'm aware of. If you post here listing your long term livestock plans for the tank, I'm sure we can post some recommendations.

[Roger928]

http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/lighting/index.htm

[der_wille_zur_macht]

While I have nothing at all against wet web media, that article appears quite dated. Lighting technology has changed extremely rapidly in the last few years, with some very clear and well documented improvements. None of them are mentioned in that article. In fact, it's making recommendations that probably would have been considered borderline out of date back when I first started dabbling with reefs in the 90's.