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Light questions for 75 gallon tank - VHO bulbs?
My husband is getting rid of his Malawi cichlids, so we can use more of
our available tank space for raising apistos...
This means that I'll probably be breaking down my 30 gallon tank
(whether he'll let me plant the tank very heavily, once he starts
raising apistos, remains to be seen. I don't see why not, but he seems
skeptical. He wants to set up a honeycomb structure of PVS pipes, 'to
give the fry more hiding places', but I think the plants should work
just as well, or better... I kind of suspect that he just doesn't want
my hands in the tank). Anyway, this means I would be trading up for his
75 gallon.
Because it's such a deep tank (in comparison to my current 30 gallon), I
think I'll need more than my current 2 watts per gallon. I've got two
48" perfecto light strips, one single, one double. I'm considering VHO
bulbs.
From my reading of the archives, it looks as though:
1) Perfecto light strips have tar ballasts.
2) VHO bulbs burn out quickly (3-4 months) with tar ballasts.
3) Ice Cap ballasts, or at least electronic ballasts, are recommended to
get greater longevity.
Is this all correct? Does anyone have contradictory, or just plain
useful, advice they'd like to impart?
Alysoun McLaughlin
alysoun at planetall_com