VHO Lighting

[Beverly]

I picked a 150 this weekend, 56x24x24. It came with 8 vho's I'm not sure of the exact watts right now, but can look when I get home. I was wondering, can I keep sps with vho's, regardless of wattage?

[350gt]

Yes, but can you still find bulbs?

[Beverly]

Yeah. I was worried bout that too. I've only been outta the game for like 2 years. What the heck happened? Everything is different from lighting to overflows, skimmer pumps. I feel like I'm starting new again. I saw some bulbs on ebay but the price to replace and ship 8 bulbs, I might as well buy a new fixture.

[350gt]

Lol no kidding.

[Bill S]

I still use VHOs. And yes, they are available. Mine are a pair of 72" 14Ks. But, it's only because I still had them, when I switched back to SW. Frankly, I kind of like them - better than T5s. But, I'm not growing SPS, either.

[CoryDude]

I grew sps in the 90's with vho's. I used the actinic white and super actinic combo.

Problem now is finding them. I actually decided to supplement with LEDs now because every place I checked was out of UVL 48" super actinics for like the last 4 months.

With that many bulbs, I'd throw an aqua sun in there to supplement for extra color.

[Bill S]

Drs. Foster Smith still has them:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3813

[CoryDude]

Yeah, but they're out of the 48" actinic 03 as well. I'd even settle for the 454nm too but that's out also. I think this is where vho is really messing up. Even the few remaining og reefers, like us, who still prefer vho are going to have problems from now on finding replacement bulbs year after year.