Ever convert commercial lights?

[aviator]

Here's a question:
in the quest for cheaper MH lights, I've run accross some super-cheap commercial warehouse-style Metal Halide lights. The have 400W magnetic ballasts which are pulse start, standard mogul sockets and, of course, big honkin' 4000K sylvania lights. amazingly, the hum from these lights is virtually non-existant.
First, let me say this: I am knowledgable in eletrical work and a not afraid of working on these lights. these are multi-tap ballasts, so running on 110 is a no-brainer. I know 4000K is too low, so I have 2 10,000K bulbs on order.
I've tested them both, and they work great, he light bulbs are the wrong kind I know that - but they can be replaced.
Has anyone else ever done a DIY canopy with a commercial light like this? I'd be interested in hearing any advice!

 

[posiden]

Well, if your comfortable with the electrical then all you are asking then is how to put them in a canopy. So, do you want to build your own reflertor or run them in the housing they are in. If you run them in the housing they are in then....just put them in. they are MH and the housing is designed to accomadate that. If you want to strip them down and build your own reflectors then......
Wow, I just proof read that and that just sounds rude. Sorry.

 

[posiden]

Here is a plan to build a reflector.

 

[drtito]

Seems good, I look forward to reading you progress as this is a expensive hobby. And anyway to save a buck is good.

 

[small triggers]

commercial lights are the easier, cheaper way to go. The only downfall is that when the ballast goes out they get LOUD of course, then you know what it is, lol. We have sodium bulbs at work , and one of my guys put a halide in it instead (since he didnt bother to read it) and man that thing hummed like a prostitute on J street in Tacoma, lol

 

[aviator]

Thanks for all the replies. The schematic for a reflector looks great, I'll have to use that.
I'll keep everyone aprised as to how the project goes. Right now, my big concern is heat dissipation.... okay, the nerd in me is comign out: my calculation show that in order to keep from boiling my poor tank, these lights will need to be at least 13 inches from the bulb to the water, with a strong ariflow over the tank as well as strong ariflow pulling heat from the bulb. That means... drum roll please.. pendant lights... which sucks because I was hoping to integrate these into a hood.
I scrounged up a Current Nova Extreme 4x65W hood for all of $25 bucks last night - the down side is that one of the ballast has gone out. My hope was to integrate the two Metal Halides into this hood and use the working ballast to run supplimental actinics, but I guess that won't work.

I'm starting to think that 2 400W Metal Halides is just too much for this tank.
What does everyone think? IT's going to be a reef tank and I dont' want to limit what I have in it because of lighting, but am I going overboard?

 

[tank a holic]

what size tank?

 

[docstomper]

Tac town eh? Im from everett area but am in the Air Force now and live in Vegas. Im completly new to this hobby and have fiji live rock in my tank now. Is it possible to use rocks from the sound/ocean?

 

[salt210]

Originally Posted by Docstomper
http:///forum/post/3111059
Tac town eh? Im from everett area but am in the Air Force now and live in Vegas. Im completly new to this hobby and have fiji live rock in my tank now. Is it possible to use rocks from the sound/ocean?
it is illegal to harvest rock from the ocean. with that said yes it is. the rock we use comes from the ocean, it is just harvested by a company that has the permits or whatever they need to do so.

 

[salt210]

to the OPs question, I am running industrial 250w halides under my canopy with no problems

 

[aviator]

The tank is 55 gallons... 250W would be fine, I am sure.. but these are 400Watt!!! I don't think the canopy provides a large enough air-gap to keep the temp in check.

 

[salt210]

you might be able to get away with one. try positioning the bulb around inside the canopy and see if it has enough height to cover the tank.

 

[aviator]

Thanks, I'll give that a try and see what I come up with. either way, I'll post and let everyone know the outcome.
Just waiting on bulbs now...

 

[tank a holic]

yeah 2 400w MH's on a 55 is way too much, your fish would get sunburn

 

[aviator]

Yeah, thats what I was afraid of. I'll try one of them first, see if I can get enough light to the edges of the tank and see what happens. Worst case is that I'll have a nice pendant that I can change the ballast and light out on and go lower. I was hoping to go with two 150 watt lights, but this deal "seemed" too good to pass up.
too bad I can't put a lower wattage bulb with a 400watt Ballast! I'm thinking about this scenario:
if It turns out to be too much light, I might be able to get away with using the 270 volt tap on the light to "step down" the ballast for a smaller bulb, though I haven't done the calculations yet. I know it won't measure out to an even, 150 watts or 200 watts or whatever, but it should be close. Since it's just a magnetic ballast, this might work. Not sure how that will affect the pulse start function. That will take a little experimentation. at least I know that the other taps will work with single phase power, so thats not a problem. We'll see. I'll experiment with the big 400 watt bulbs that came witht he lights to see what happens. THIS is why I bought I high voltage voltmeter! LOL.
I'll keep everyone posted.
I did get my mogul sockets in the mail yesterday (though I didn't really need them, I ordered them just in case for $2.50 each) and I got shipping confirmation on the bulbs. Should be here soon.

 

[nigerbang]

I know of a place to get SE batwing reflectors,Wiring and sockets new for $25 each.. Lemme check and make sure they dont sell anything that SWF sells since that would put me in "warning PM ville"
Ignore.. I just read the last post.. Thats what I get for skimming over threads instead of reading..

 

[aviator]

Okay, so here's a quick update: the commercial ballasts work perfectly with the new 10,000K bulbs, I'm getting the right kind of light in the tank, FINALLY!
One light, 13 inches off the surafce of the water with good airflow between them and the water stays a constant 78 degrees, we'll see how long that holds, but so far, two light cycles (10 on, 14 off) and it seems to be fine.
The only problem I have is that 10,000K seems to "wash out" the reds in the tank, I guess I'll be adding some T5's to cover that. Time to build a tank hood! YEAH! NO PENDANT! (sorry all you pendant lovers, it's not my thing)
I'd post a pic, but the setup is so retrofit-hillbilly-bailingwire style right now, frankly, I'm ashamed, but the skeleton I put together to hang it all on worked well to adjust the height of the light. Now I know how big of a hood I am going to have to make.
I'll post again once it's all done, along with pictures of the build process.
So far, I'm into these lights all of $60, and I have TWO (yes, TWO) 400watt lights available, though I'm only using one.

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by aviator
http:///forum/post/3117465
Okay, so here's a quick update: the commercial ballasts work perfectly with the new 10,000K bulbs, I'm getting the right kind of light in the tank, FINALLY!
One light, 13 inches off the surafce of the water with good airflow between them and the water stays a constant 78 degrees, we'll see how long that holds, but so far, two light cycles (10 on, 14 off) and it seems to be fine.
The only problem I have is that 10,000K seems to "wash out" the reds in the tank, I guess I'll be adding some T5's to cover that. Time to build a tank hood! YEAH! NO PENDANT! (sorry all you pendant lovers, it's not my thing)
I'd post a pic, but the setup is so retrofit-hillbilly-bailingwire style right now, frankly, I'm ashamed, but the skeleton I put together to hang it all on worked well to adjust the height of the light. Now I know how big of a hood I am going to have to make.
I'll post again once it's all done, along with pictures of the build process.
So far, I'm into these lights all of $60, and I have TWO (yes, TWO) 400watt lights available, though I'm only using one.

Sounds good, nice.

If you don't want the T5's you could go higher like a 14 or a 20 K bulb. Just a thought.

 

[nemo_66]

i had a industrail 400watt MH setup on my 58 gallon. i had a store bought reflector, forgot which one though. it worked pretty good. i had it in a pine canopy, about an inch away from the surface. lol. the temp. stayed constant at around 79-80. i dont know much about the wiring though, since my brother had done it. i used the reeflux 12k bulb. 100 dollars for one!! but i had an ---- bulb and it shattered in the tank, so thats what i get for going cheap. i still have one in my closet, and one at a friends house, for that time when i'll "setup" the BIG tank, one day in my future. lol.
i did do the wiring on my new 70watt MH system for my 5.5 gallon, and its pertty sweet!

 

[aviator]

I did think about going higher, but the higher you go, they more blue they become, which isn't what I'm looking for. If anything, I might tone it down to a 8000K or so, see if I can't get the reds back. Of course, I'm comparing it to how it was before, with the actinics and whites combined. After a looking at it for a while, I'm actually think I'm pleased with the light. Maybe I just need more "red stuff" in the tank! LOL. The flame angel looks spectacular under this light!
Temps are holding steading at 78 degrees. I did add a fan to the light to help with airflow, that has kept the temps from fluctuating at all, which is good.
I plan on starting the build on the canopy this weekend.
I also managed to find a good FCan style ballast on e bay for $15, So I snapped it up. It's totally silent and (for some reason) draws less current, so I'll end up using it. Looks like i'm going to end up with TWO extra lights now! I'm not complaining! There's a 200 gallon tank in our future, so they will ALL be put to good use.
As for the reflector, you won't believe what I'm using! I was a lowes looking for aluminum sheet to make a reflector and choked on the prices. On my way out, I passed by a bunch of duct-work preformed parts. One of them was a 90 degree square use on floor vents, looked right... so I grabbed it for $3.50 - took it home and made a few mods to it and voila! perfect reflector. It's galvanised steel, so corrosion will probably be a factor in the future, but for now it works great, casts the shadows we like and is easy to cool and work with. I'll snap a pic of it while I'm building it into the hood.