Are VHO's enough fo me??

[natedogg]

I am in the process of planning a 180 gallon 72/24/24. I plan on keeping LPS, Softies, and I would really like to keep some leaf plate Montipora, but not really any Acro's. So my question is would four 160watt VHO's be enough or do i need six? To be honest im trying to stay away from Metal halides. PLease give me any advice you have. Thanks!

[mikeatjac]

Yes. The key is picking the right bulbs. For example, one antinic, 2 6500 and one 10K. Worked for me for years even with SPS. You don't want SPS on the bottom. You may want to reconsider MH. Replacing the VHO's more often gets expensive.

[natedogg]

With MH ill need a deeper canopy, more fans, and maybe a chiller!

[Whaledriver]

I would go with 8 bulbs. Use the URI A4 ballist. It is the same as the Icecap 660 but doesnt dim and has no heatsink. You could buy a extruded aluminum heatsink that should be fine. At this power level you should be able to have anything you want grow in the tank. It works out to 100 watts per square foot of water surface. That is the same as most MH setups without the hassels. As far as venting the heat in the hood goes, buy some 3 inch computer fans and have them go on with each VHO ballast. This way you have 4 fans on with 4 ballasts and 3 with 3 ballasts...and so on. The computer fans are cheaper and quieter than the Icecap temperature sensitive fans.

Useing 4 ballasts also lets you have a nice subtle dusk and dawn effect. It seems like alot but you are better off haveing too much light than to little.

I too hate the hoods on some tanks that are as big as the tank. They seem out of scale.

With 8 bulbs you also can have the perfect balance of bulb selection. URI makes 3 good bulbs and you should be able to get the right color from this many bulbs.