MH questions... (1 Viewer)

[rxonco]

My wife's uncle just gave me a MH/PC hood setup for free. The only problem was he couldn't find the ballast that goes with it. I'm not sure of the brands so I'm hoping to find out some information via this post.

It's a 48" hood with a 4" fan.

2 36" power compact Custom Sea Life 7100K Blue Twin Tubes

and

2 MH sockets that have the imprint of 4KV Rated TRIBORO along with the two Coralife 6500K MH 175watt bulbs. The cord has the imprint of DSMT. I'm not sure if that means anything.

My questions would be...
1. How hard would it be to find a ballast for this setup?
2. Would it even be a good idea to run this on a 72gal tank with no chiller?
3. If not, does anyone have a need for something like this? I'd like to try and, at least, get something in trade to upgrade my lighting. Right now I'm only running a triple NO fluor. strip with 40watt bulbs.

 

[Guest]

You can get ballasts. The only catch might be that you'd have to modify the MH cords to fit the new ballast, which isn't hard. Electric MH ballasts are more effient and run cooler. A Workhorse 3 would run the two PC's.

 

[rxonco]

I stopped by and showed it to Kenny at AquaticCenter. He really didn't think I should put something like this on a tank my size w/o a chiller. Either way, he told me what I would need to put into it to get the ballasts and I think I'll just go with the PC setup he has there by Coralife.
I'm going to try to make the July meeting so I plan to bring this thing with me. I figured maybe someone might be able to salvage some of the parts. I'm still not sure as to what exactly it is but if you talk to Kenny he may be able to tell you. So if anyone happens to need a couple of MH fixtures or PC fixtures w/o the ballasts...let me know.
Otherwise, it's just going in the trash.

 

[Cakepro]

Hmmm...I run this exact setup on a 75 gallon tank with no chiller, and my temp never gets above 80 degrees. It stays pretty stable at 78 degrees. Sorry to bust your bubble, but pc SUCKS. This is from a pc x 3 yrs. user who converted one tank to all VHO and replaced the pc's in my dual 175 watt MH hood with two 110 watt VHO's over my main reef tank. My tank has never been more gorgeous since replacing the 384 watts of pc with the MH/VHO setup.

Trust me, friend, you don't need a chiller and you may very well regret going with pc lighting since you have a great setup in your possession.

Sorry to the pro-pc people out there.

~ Sherri

 

[Cakepro]

On the other hand, if you do trash it, I'd like the sockets and wiring.

 

[AggieBrandon]

To control the heat issue if it gets too much just run the pc/vho for the most part and have the metal halides come on for a few hours and go off. That way you get some intensity from the metal halides but have the vho/pc as well.

Brandon

 

[Cakepro]

Good point Brandon. I should mention that my MH's stay on for 12 hours a day and the VHO's are on for 14. The house temp is set at 74. There are only two 4" fans blowing air through the hood, one in and one out. There are no fans anywhere else on the system.

~ Sherri

 

[rxonco]

I'll have to think about that one. I've not looked into the VHO lighting. I really wasn't interested in upgrading to MH yet as I'm not intent on keeping SPS or clams...for now at least. I was just given this piece of hardware and was playing around with some ideas. I hate to have something like this go to waste so if I don't decide to keep it, I'll put your name on it Cakepro.
As for the PC/VHO, I'm really only planning on keeping some LPS and other soft corals. Leathers, polyps, mushrooms...things like that. So I guess I'll have to do a bit more research before I make a purchase. (That's code for I have to wait a while before my wife lets me do anymore big purchases.)

 

[Cakepro]

I'm really only planning on keeping some LPS and other soft corals. Leathers, polyps, mushrooms...things like that.

Hahaha, you say that now. Just wait until you come home from a frag swap with a couple of nice acro's.

~ Sherri

 

[rxonco]

Yeah, but in order for me to have all of that extra junk piled up in my garage like alot of you guys, I need to start somewhere. I figure once I have a couple of aquariums, a few lighting setups, and a pump or two...that I'm no longer using...I'm an official MARSHian.

 

[Guest]

I resemble that remark!