Mort,

VHO bulbs must be replaced every six months. So if you want to save some money,
you can buy Sylvania or Philips 6500K bulbs at Home Depot or Lowes for ~$4.50
each. Great price. IceCap ballasts will overdrive them from 40w to 110w each,
but it will shorten their useable lifespan. In six months, their usefullness is
over. But that is okay!! It's time to replace them anyway.

If you don't change out your bulbs on schedule, you can end up with older bulbs
that shift in color spectrum which fuel algae outbreaks.

VHO - 6 months
MH & PC - 12 months.

Marc


Mort wrote:

Is anyone here familiar with overdriving NO fluorescent tubes?

I met a DIYer today (Marc, that's the guy I told you about with those5 stage
RO/DI units) that does this to his lamps.

Apparently you replace the balast with a higher output Electronic ballast
(About $10 from home depot) and it can double even triple the wattage of the
bulb. It operates at a higher frequency and does not shorten the life of
the bulb much at all. He's had a setup with a twin 30w 36" fixture that
with this balast is putting out 130watts after 1 year.

Will this trickery work for marine aquaria and corals???

~Mort

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