taking a chance with lights

[kiznile]

If you have not noticed my posts
I have been doing alot of research on lights
especially in metal halides
I have relized that as long as the ballast
and all mechanics hold 400w mh
then it is only the bulb that will make it used for aquarium use
I have found lotts of sales on 400w mh grow lights
street lights and much more
but the ballast and the light are all in one box
might be difficult to put under your canopy
so will be getting one of these lights
and will be doing some cutting and trying to seperate the ballast from the light
then will need just a bulb
and will cost about $200.00
cheaper then anywere I have seen online

wish me luck

[roguemonk]

I'll bet you can do it just as cheaply if not more so if you buy a diy ballast kit (you can find them on eBay and I've managed to get them usually for $50.00 or less after shipping), some wiring, some mogul sockets (I got 10 on eBay for around $50.00 shipped, and you can buy them on line for $8-10 each I think), and either make your own reflector or buy one for $30-40. You can get 400 W bulbs on eBay for around $40.00 shipped (some people say they'll be lower quality, but I'm willing to give it a shot and my tests sure look good).

Buy cheap heavy-duty extension cords at HD or WM for about $4.00 each, cut them in half, and wire the cut ends to your socket on one side and the ballast on the other and you've got a plug-n-play ballast and socket combination (just make sure you never plug in the wrong ballast!).

This is no more challenging than trying to disassemble and reassemble something built for a different purpose, and you get to design it yourself for probably less money overall.

Just a thought.

I haven't built my mh fixtures yet, so I don't have any results to show you, but I can tell you it works great in my testing.

Brad

[kiznile]

that might help me out
thanks for the help
I am trying to find away to not spend 1k on lights
will keep you updated

[kiznile]

this is great check this out
400 watt MH Grow Light BALLAST KIT 400w METAL HALIDE w
and
250 watt MH Grow Light BALLAST KIT 250w METAL HALIDE w

[kiznile]

sorry hear is the sight

http://search.ebay.com/ballast-kit-mh_W0QQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfstyp eZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZQ2d1QQsaprchiZQQsaprcloZQQssPageNameZWD10S

[FishnWishn]

Be very careful when ordering these ballast. Grow lights are almost always HPS(High Pressure Sodium) or MH EYE ballast for running 6500K Iwasaki bulbs ONLY. They EYE ballast are actually MV(Mercury Vapor) ballast not MH like most people think. Grow lights are designed to run in the 6500 Kelvin range because plants need that red/yellow spectrum. I ran 2 grow lights when I started out and grew nothing but algae. Then again that's what the system was designed to do grow green. The ballast was built into the pendant and kept blowing because of the salt creep.

When you buy a 400 watt ballast, be sure it is an ANSI M59, core & capacitor(Probe Start). You can also buy an ANSI M135, core,capacitor & ignitor(Pulse Start). If it is an ANSI H33 or an ANSI M37 ballast stay away from it. The H33 is an EYE (MV) ballast. An M37 ballast is a HPS ballast. Of course you can't go wrong with an electronic ballast.

Aquatic bulbs run in the 10K- 20K Kelvin range which is in the blue spectrum. American bulbs typically use probe start ballast. the ignitor that acually fires the bulb is built into the bulb. German/Euro bulbs use pulse start ballast with a seperate ignitor. There are some exceptions like Ushio recommends pulse start ballast on all bulbs except for the 250 watt bulb that has been modified with a built in ignitor. If your bulb typically fires then shuts off then fires again, you probably are running a pulse start bulb on a probe start ballast.

Sorry so long but HTH.

[sscherin]

Just to throw it in there..

400W HQI is really a 430w HPS SonAgro Ballast.

430's are somewhat easy to come by at police auction sites like Propertyroom.com. Just watch the shipping charges.

[Devaji108]

I just ordered 4 x 250W MH W/ 14K bulbs for 470 ish shiped
mogal socket dual ballast.
just thought I would throw that out threre, but I am really a DIY kinda guy.
good luck and let us know how it works out.
Deva

[castorpollux]

heres a "grow" light for sale right here on the page you just gave for police auctions sscherin

<a href="http://www.propertyroom.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=66715411&prmenbr=31895249&aunbr=67062121">Here</a>

[roguemonk]

I'm sure FishnWishn is right, but the ad in the link says MH ballast. You should probably ask the seller to send you a picture of the sticker on the ballast which will tell you everything you need to know, or just ask him to type out the text so you can confirm it's M59 Probe Start (it looks superficially the same as those I've purchased and they light 400W MH 10,000K probe start bulbs just fine). Do confirm before you buy. :-)

Brad

[FishnWishn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6870820#post6870820 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sscherin
Just to throw it in there..

400W HQI is really a 430w HPS SonAgro Ballast.
Yep, just didn't want to add to the confusion of matching bulbs with lamps. The 400Watt HQI SonAgro ballast can run DE MH bulbs or overdrive SE MH bulbs. If you need to get a grow light ballast this is the only one I would recommend. The advantage is a brighter/whiter light. the disadvantage is when overdriven the bulb burns hotter with a shorten lifespan.

The ballast in the site is a 1000W ballast, at least the sticker says it's for a 1000W M47(MH) or H36(HPS) lamp.

To add to the confusion, you can run a MH on some HPS ballast, but you will not get a consistant burn in the color spectrum you need for SW tanks. the lamp will burn lower an have that yellow look to it. again the exception is the 400W HQI(430 HPS SonAgro) because it is overdriven.

[FishnWishn]

I just noticed there were a few grow light ballast. most look like 1000W, but like roguemonk said,"confirm before you buy".

[aztecdreams]

Hellolights.com has some raw ballast for sale(m59) for around 60 bux or so.

[messy1messmer]

I got a 400w MH kit(bulb,ballast,reflector) for 189.00 for Ocean Encounter.com i love them and he lets you choose between 10k 14k 20k all for the same price the brand is EVC and my research found that they have very good par ratings. Pm me if you have any questions