odd request for measurement
 

Hey guys,

So a buddy of mine is building me a light rack and is about to drill holes for the VHO mounts. They're just standard waterproof end caps.

Thing is he's worried about the "exactness" of mounting the end caps. Do any of you guys run 6 foot VHOs? I know I'm living in the dark ages and should switch to T5s but these are good enough and I like to spend my money on other stuff :razz:

So if I could get a measurement from screws to screws of the endcaps that would be awesome. I told him it added about 1/4" on either end but apparently thats not good enough for him :wink:

Might be worthwhile just grabbing a light, putting it in the sockets and then mounting the sockets where they sit. That's what I did with my old 75g canopy and was planning on doing that with the t5's in my 280g light frame.

Yeah I was hoping to not have to order them right now. Just got back from a weeks holiday and my visa is smokin :wink:

Sssssssmokin!!!! LMAO

Hi Christy,
I just upgraded my light to T5 but still have my old hood in the fish room. I was running 5 foot bulbs, I could always give you the distance between the screw holes, I am sure adding a foot to it will be bang on.

I believe they are 1 1/2" less than 72" (so 70.5"). I'll call my friend to confirm. I just helped him switch out all 6 bulbs on his fixture yesterday. He had to stagger them because the 6' bulbs aren't 6 feet long, they are slightly shorter. I'll post again after I get a response.

The distance between the screw holes on my 5 feet hood combo is 58.5". This would make sens since the bulb is really 59". 60" with the connecting pins in.

Great thanks!! :biggrin:

Christy,

I have 6ft VHOs on my tank. I'll measure when I get home from work tonight. I believe the exact measurements are listed on the ballast itself if it's a PFO.

68.75" between the center of the mounting holes.

Really? Wow, this could be interesting :wink:

Thanks for the info Franklin :biggrin:

I actully preffer the VHO, i bought Tonys old pair of VHO and the antic lighting is better then anything else i have seen.
I changed it over to a icecap ballast but for sure they have much better color then any 4 t5 bulbs that i have seen.

My friend measured and from screwhole to screwhole is 69 5/16" There seems to be a discrepency in measurements.

yeah I'm wondering if there are a few different types of endcaps out there. I ended up measuring my 4 foot ones and came up with a half inch off the bulb length so I told my builder that. No worries though, if its more or less I'm sure it can be adjusted somehow.

There are indeed. Icecap makes some, and there are the ones you can buy at Big Al's (which I personally prefer), Lifereef/litereef perhaps???. Likely others as well.

I believe my friend uses Ice cap end caps.

Well that certainly explains it, I didn't realize that (although, duh, I should have!)