VHO users - advice needed

speccialj922 · #1 09/26/2007, 09:00 PM

Well its about time to replace my bulbs (probably way past due). Uness I'm just stupid, and i may be - my understanding is that i will once again be buying URI bulbs out of lack of choice. The past few years i have been running 2 x Actinic White and 2 x super actinic. i have never bought the "aqua sun" bulb, but i am considering them this time.

is there anyone that uses 4 x vho's? if so, what is your combo of choice? im thinking of 2 actinics and 2 aquasuns and skipping out on the white actinics.

I have a 36'' 50g tank. softies, zoos, some lps and some sps (monti for now). opinions welcome.

fat-tony · #2 09/26/2007, 09:15 PM

I have right now 5 vho (i know, i know...not 4 you mentioned)

I'm running 2x super actinic, 1x white actinic and 2x aquasun. The coloring is ok, i'd have better growth if i could take some time and clean up my water a bit

SlowCobra · #3 09/26/2007, 10:38 PM

I personally hate the look of my Actinic Whites. So much so that I stopped using them. I have not seen an aquasun for VHO but I would imagine it looks way better than the stupid pink color of the Actinic White.

Caleb Kruse · #4 09/26/2007, 10:53 PM

I don't like the color, but I have 2 aquasuns, 1 super actinic, and one actinic white. It's just very yellow.

speccialj922 · #5 09/27/2007, 05:26 AM

yeah, that was my beef with my current setup now. the actinics look fine, but the actinic white looks awful. never realized it until the timer on my actinics died and i saw the tank w/o the actinic blues on at all. ugliest yellow ever.

ljosh · #6 09/27/2007, 03:41 PM

My 50/50 URI actinics are not yellow at all.

tkeracer619 · #7 09/27/2007, 03:47 PM

I would drop the vho's and get into T5's. You might be able to run the same ballasts and will have a ton of better bulb choices.

Oh and I am a VHO user (actinics), admiting it is the first step

Craig Lambert · #8 09/27/2007, 04:03 PM

I have 6X VHO. (630 watts) I use to run 4 actinic white URI and 2 Super Actinic, and loved the look. I recently bought new bulbs and have switched to 4 Aquasun and 2 super actinic. I like the look of this combination as well. URI Aquasun bulbs use to give a pink look that I didn't like at all, but the bulb has apparently been redesigned and gives a different look now. I switched to Aquasuns because I am keeping some SPS and they are a higher par than the Actinic White bulbs.

My configuration is 2 110 watt super actinics, 2 110 watt aquasun, and 2 95 watt aquasun.

speccialj922 · #9 09/27/2007, 04:26 PM

thanks for all the input. (im a little too poor and dont have the time to reconfigure a new light system). i think ill get 2 aquasuns and 2 super actinic.

ziggaboo · #10 09/27/2007, 10:55 PM

long time no see bud. i just got back into it this year and set up a 20H at my apartment... have you had the 50 set up all this time? the 55 i had was 2x daylight 50/50's and then 2x actinic if you remember what that looked like.

speccialj922 · #11 09/28/2007, 09:49 PM

hey, check your pm zig

ddresch · #12 09/29/2007, 11:51 AM

I use 4 VHO on my 75, and use 2 50/50 actinic, and 2 actinic 03, and I'm quite happy with the growth and color. I have a friend who also runs the same combo, and his tank does look yellower than mine. I'd suggest running a little carbon, as this helps eliminate the yellow color. My bulbs are in the following order, from front to back. 03, 50/50, 03, 50/50. I feel this helps the blue reflect better, making the corals in the middle and back of the tank look better.

Harbour · #13 09/29/2007, 12:21 PM

For a long time I only ran 2 VHO's on my 55. I always used a 50/50 and on 03.

Harbour

Racing1 · #14 09/29/2007, 01:01 PM

I run vho and run 3X aquasun and 1X super R actinic and it gives a blue look. The new aquasuns are not quite as pink as they used to be.