hot ballast

[glinton]

I bought a used 30gal tank and it came with a 36" strip light. The ballast is for a 40 Watt lamp. The ballast gets REALLY hot, so hot I hardly can touch it. Is this bad? Could it potentially be a fire hazard?
I am new at this game and know nothing about ballasts.

 

[dcox88]

is it real heavy? probably a magnetic ballast, they get very hot. Just don't put lots of kindling around them!

 

[slick]

A lot of ballast will get really hot. Try to keep them away from carpet and other stuff that might go up in flames.

 

[newreefers]

Is there any way to put a fan around it? this might help the temp stay down a bit.

 

[glinton]

Yes, it is pretty heavy. Are the old ballasts the magnetic ones? Are the newer ballasts electronic? I assume the newer ones are a little bit cooler!
I feel much better now. I don't know exactly what I will do, maybe put a small fan on it. I know I need to suspend it somehow so it doesn't come in contact with anything flammable.

 

[blondenaso1]

BigMac, I don't know what kind of E-ballast you have, but my Icecap couldn't run cooler. I even used the heat sink that you get with the Iecap on my magnetic ballast that runs the lghts over my refugium. That really help the magnetic stay cool. Go to your hardware store and see if they sell heatsinks for ballasts. That would keep the magnetic ballast running cooler and probably make it last longer.