Help - PFO MH, what did I buy?

[desertdawg]

Well the powder blue is dead.
Here's a couple more pictures, when the Mata tang is dark you can see what I was saying about it appearing to be burnt on top.

And the Desjardini, look at the top fin near the tail, there is no flesh left there, just the spines.

Want to talk about being sad, we'll I don't know what to do now. The wife is upset because she was getting attached to this group. It brings a tear to my eye after hand feeding these guys over the last few months to see them basiclly cooked.
There is no color left in my tank, almost all the coraline is bleached now, no corals open anymore, even my algae scrubber is looking weak, I nuked the tank and it looks like crap.
Can someone tell my if this light setup is worth keeping and starting over with? are the bulbs 400w and will the world really end if I use them some more?
What would you do?????

 

[desertdawg]

HELP !
Maybe move my thread to a section where more members can see it?

 

[desertdawg]

This isn't contagious, you won't catch anything by replying......

 

[jackri]

If you still have your old lights I don't see the harm in putting those on and trying to get everything back to normal while you see what's going on with these lights. Something doesn't sound right at all with them and sounds like you had a beautiful tank before hand.

 

[desertdawg]

I was talking to a guy today, it's like running a UV light only x 100, there is probably now nutrients left in the water, even my algae scrubber is barely growing right now.
My latest water params...
pH - 8.1
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - around 20 (Usually less than 5 with algae scrubber)
kH - 180 ppm,
calcium - 460 ppm
specific gravity - 1.025 (hydrometer)
temperature - 76-80
Did a 20% water change tonight, still running the one MH for now centered, I may put the old PC light back on tomorrow if I still see no zoa's opening after an hour of so. Right now I can see some color in each pod with the moonlights on so they aren't dead, they just won't open under the MH.
Lost one of my cleaner shrimp tonight, he was the one that stayed on that end of the tank with the bad light. The Mata and the Desjardini are eating some, the 2 clowns seem fine.

 

[jackri]

It's amazing that the UV can be that devastating that fast. Makes sense I guess -- keep on keeping us posted how it goes.

 

[desertdawg]

I've run the one light for 8 hours a day for the last 2 days. the monti has a couple of small buds popping out near the base, and there were a couple of small buds on the birdsnest too. the zoa's are still closed during the day but at night when the moonlights are on most of them are opening about half way.
The Mata and Desjardini are both eating, had to give them a good serving of garlic today because there is now ich on both of them, I guess thier immune system took a hit so the ich is taking advantage, to bad the ich survived the UV fry time!!!
I've been feeding several small servings all day thinking that will help get some nutrients back in the water, and I've added some microvert food too, time will tell!
It's like starting all over again!

 

[acrylic51]

Looking at your ballast you shouldn't have an issue getting replacement 250W DE MH bulbs....They should all fit your needs no need to really measure the bulb.....Curious didn't read the whole thread, but do you have glass shields on your lights? I only ask because I've seen a couple times you talking about UV cooking them? Without the glass shields regardless of new bulbs or not UV will bake the tank.
Went back and read what SCSInet stated about the ballasts and is correct. If the PFO ballasts are original and never toyed with inside the case, then they aren't 400W bulbs, he ballast wouldn't fire them. With that said I'd be curious and open the case and just verify ballasts weren't changed out inside the case, but if it's 250W ballast will only fire 250W bulbs.

 

[desertdawg]

Sorry for the delay, I was out of the country.
Never opened the ballast up so I have no idea whats in there, it's back in the hands of the original owner now, let him deal with it.
One pendant had no glass and it was run for about 10 hours total over 2 days, that did the most damage, but the other pendant had glass and I ran it centered over the tank for almost 2 more weeks. There was no more damage but none of the corals would open and no Coraline grew back. I took down that one pendant and put my crappy 65w CF lights back on it and the next day almost all the zoa's were opening.
There's either something wrong with the bulbs, weird output or K rating, or like you said someone screwed with the ballast!

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry about your problems. PFO was a very reputable company unfortunate about their demise. I think the light without the shield was the culprit. DE bulbs have to be shielded unlike SE bulbs. I've used and still use PFO ballasts on my tanks with no problems.