Is Vho Still A Legit Option

I am in the process of resurrecting my tank and it has VHO lighting. I am surprised how hard it is to find bulbs in the fish stores today. It seems 7-10 years ago VHO was the gold standard in planted tank lighting. Now I guess I am out of date.

1) Should I keep my VHO setup or replace it?
2) If I replace - what should I use?

Thanks!

You cud replace it if you want. Do you still have a old bulbs? If you do try the VHO its not necessary but better the nothing.

If your going to use that light. I recommend Pressurized co2 and ADA Aquasoil and Dry ferts from Rexgrigg.com and with those powerful light, Grow RARE plants only.

You say its better than nothing. That tells me that you think VHO is vastly inferior to other lighting alternatives available. Is that correct?

I grew a very nice tank Austrailian Rainbow tank with this lighting setup but that was a long time ago. So I know it works.

That said, I do need to buy new bulbs and possibly 1 new ballast. Before I invest the money, I was hoping a veteran that has used both technologies could tell me if its worth getting the old setup running again, or if it makes more sense to start over.

Thanks!

By VHO I assume you mean T8 (1 inch diameter).

VHO (IME) is a term used in America and seems to apply to all T8s. I think that it was given when T8s came out. In theUK they all say just T8 or some say T8HO and all it means is a couple of extra watts in the same length tube.

i.e. some 24" T8 tubes are 18W whereas others are 20W. I assume the 20 is the HO.

If this is the case then these lights are fine and you have need to replace them at all.

A lot of people now use:

PC - A 'folded' T5 tube = high output in small space i.e. 55W in 21" tube!!! (IMO too much in too small a space)
T5/T5HO - Similar to the T8 except it is 5/8ths of an inch instead of 1 inch wide and has more watts per inch (HO same as T8 in that a few extra watts)

Some even use MH (Metal Halides).

BUT the majority still use T8 so you are in the majority.

Andy

I think VHO is actually T-12. They are basicially 1.5" in diameter. I think T-8 is 1" in diameter but are only 40 watts each and only reach 48" long. T-8 and T-12 are interchangeable if I read the descriptions correctly. My 72" (183cm) long bulbs are 160 watts each! I have been using four of them in my 180 gal (682 liter) so my WPG is 3.55 - which seemed really good for the plants I was trying to grow at the time.

I did look at the T-5 stuff, but they only come 48" long - so I would need to buy two smaller ones to cover my tank - which would be quite expensive vs. replacing bulbs and even a ballast.

Thank you for taking the time to give me such a complete answer!

3.55WPG over such a large tank will be sufficient to grow anything.

The WPG rule is based on T12 which is why there are so many arguments these days over wether it is any good as a guide or not.

Unfortunately for you it isn't really apllicable to your tank due to it's size.

In general a Nano need much more light than the WPG rule whereas a large tank needs much less. The rule was based on a very generalised 20-55USG average tank with T12s.

So in summary. You have plenty of light. Go ahead and buy whatever plants you want but I would suggest pressurised CO2 and a fert regime of some kind. Probably Tom Barr is best to ask this on barrreport.com as I have no experience of large tanks like this.

Andy

thanks for the reply! This helps a lot!