anyone still using VHOs as their primary lighting?

[lewk]

Just wondering who out there uses VHO lighting and how they like them. I'm running 3 250's over my 135 and am getting tired of the heat. Using fans and all that, and would prefer to avoid a chiller.

I was considering making the switch to 6 VHOs.

Thanks in advance.

[mc-cro]

I use them over my SPS frag tank. I am currently using 3x3footers, although the frag tank is only 12 tall. I have found that the VHO are actually too bright for my LPS, so I had to move them to the sump with different lighting.

There are some plus and minus with them.

They do offer nice color variations; very little heat output(compared to MH), the bulbs themselves are cheap, although on bigger setups multiple bulbs can become pricey. Under the right conditions, you can get your SPS to grow and color up nicely. LPS can do well under them, even down on the sandbed.

The downsides is that bulb selection is very limited now, as they are a dying technology. They also do not penetrate very deep. I found that I had to place my SPS within about 8" of the surface.

[jimsplace]

I am running an all VHO set up (see pics on home page). I have a 90 with a 4 bulb setup utilizing 2-white actinic, 1-super actinic(03) and 1-454. I have been able to grow just about anything except some of the more demanding acros. I have not had any problems finding the actinics, but some places don't carry the 454's. I have found that the bulbs are good for 8-10 months before I start seeing some algae. You will have to play with your coral place as noted above with the more demanding closer to the surface. My 90 is I think 25" deep and I don't have any problems with lower light sps/lps and have a dresea clam there too.

[lgtentacle]

6 VHO's are still going to generate quite a bit of heat so you'll still need the fans, but whether it will be better or worse than your current setup will depend on the design of your canopy.

Something to keep in mind is that the VHO's will spread the light out alot more than the MH's. This can be a good/bad thing depending on how your tank is set up. Area's that used to get hammered with focused light from the metal halide's will get alot less light since the lighting is more dispersed. Areas that might not have been getting as much light (in the edge overlap zone of the halides) will probably get more light with the VHO's. One other annoying trait that you will see is that you will get more algae on the sides of the tank (and higher up on the glass) than what you normally got from the MH's. Again, this is caused by the wider spread of light from the VHO's as opposed to the focused light of the halides (assuming that you use reflectors on the halides now).