light went out - Is reef ok for how long?

[Johnic]

One of my two 250 watt MH lights went out and I'm not sure if its the lamp or the ballast. How quick do I have to get the new fixture back up and running..one side of my tank if pretty dark.

[mfinn]

I would think you could go a couple weeks or more if you have one bulb burning.

But if you went that long, you might want to acclimate your corals to the new light.

[Johnic]

Oh ..really. then I could order the stuff online...
PS: I just removed the bulb from the bad fixture and tryed in the running one and the bulb worked... it looks like the Icecap Ballast went on me..it was an old version Icecap.
What ballast do you recommend ?
The fixture fires up and runs for only 2 min and kicks off...what does that mean ?

[Johnic]

I got the 50/50 PFO 96w running