Vho vs de mh - What is the difference?

B

bolis03

[Not knowing anything about VHO or DE MH I have to ask the question, what is the difference and what benefits one over the other in other words, which one is better? Also is it true that MH or VHO need only to be turned on between 2 to 4 hours a day because any longer would be unbeneficial to the corals.]
 
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Also is it true that MH or VHO need only to be turned on between 2 to 4 hours a day because any longer would be unbeneficial to the corals. said:
That is false, but often people will fire up thier VHO's or flourescent types an hour or two before the MH turns on, then turn the MH off an hour or 2 before the flourescents turn off. So if you run your lights 10 hours a day, your MH would only be on about 7-8 of those hours.

Some people run MH with nothing else, and keep them on the full 10 hours. A lot is personal prefernce, what corals you want to keep, bulb life, electricity cost, etc etc]
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[VHO offer very nice color, but not the most light penetration. Softies and LPS will do fine with VHO, but most sps and clams will not. Bulbs are relatively cheap compared to MH bulbs, plus they don't get as hot.

MH can offer good coloration, but it usually needs additional lighting for cosmetic improvement. MH get very hot and usually requires some type of cooling mechanism (fans/chiller). Also, MH gives your tank shimmer lines, that resemble the bottom of the ocean. You can have any coral with MH lighting, since the intensity is so high.]
 
[If I were to start all over again, i would get MH before any other type of lighting. 1. MH bulbs last longer than any other type. VHO's and PC need to be replaced every 6 months to keep the right spectrum while MH once a year. 2. MH bulbs are not that much more expensive than PC's when you compare wattage. A 96 watt pc bulb at a lfs is about 75 bucks. While a 175 watt MH bulb is around 80 bucks.

You really don't need to get seperate attinic supplement lights (VHO's or PC) if you get MH. You can just go with a bluer bulb (Hamilton 14k or CoralVue 15k) These bulbs will give you the same effect as having 10k's with attinic supplement.]
 
[I forgot something. You don't need to put on your attinics (if you have them) on before your MH but just think of it this way. Would you like to be blasted with all that light right when you wake up??? I have my attinics on 2 hours before and after my MH come on, just to wake everything up.]
 
[You get about 3000 hours of useage out of any flourescent type bulb, NO, VHO or PC bulb. This number is acually a bit smaller for VHO's. This is about 8 months if you run your lights 12 hours a day.

HID bulbs, MH/HPS/MV last closer to 12 months, and the shift in spectrum is more noticable, IMO.]
 
[Yah, the price is high if you don't look in the right places. I saw that price at fish gallery. I buy all my bulbs online as they are cheaper. A to T lamps sells off of ebay right? I got some 2 96 watt attinics for 40 bucks off ebay but don't remeber the seller.]
 
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