Metal Halide Catastrophe!

[blennybabe]

Yesterday was horrible. I was remodeling a room in my basement and I found some aquarium stuff. Well I tossed it in the stand to deal with it later. I came back about 10 minutes later and there was water all over the floor. I had bumped one of the tubes connecting to my canister filter. It had a clamp on it and everything, but it still came unconnected. About 20 gallons of water spilled all over the carpet and filled the stand. I unplugged everything, got out the carpet shampooer and the shop vacuum and worked for about an hour getting all the water out of the carpet. Then I dared to look at my metal halide ballasts. I took them out and tried to get all the salt out. One wasn’t too bad. The other one was soaked. When the tube came unconnected, it poured water out right on top of the ballast. The one that got soaked is ruined I think but the other one still works. I moved all my corals over to one side (for once I’m glad that I don’t have that many.) my question is, what can I do to save my ballast or is it too late? I planned on upgrading whenever I got a hold of some extra cash, but holiday season is definitely not that time. To upgrade to a 250 watt I would need a new ballast and a new bulb correct? I need suggestions for which brand is best on both of those. The one MH I have is a 175w Hamilton ballast with a 12000k bulb. I was about to change the bulbs to 10000k ushios (if I’ve been a good girl according to Santa… ) Please help. Also, if anyone knows where I can get bulbs and ballasts quickly or cheaply please let me know!
Thanks so much

 

[blennybabe]

bump

 

[reefsoe]

Only thing i can offer is some PC lighting OH wait i got a 175w MH from coralife with an old bulb ( you would need to replace it ) its a pendant fixture.
Let me know

 

[broomer5]

Rachel
Sorry to hear of your mishap ! What a drag.
Finding MH lamps and ballasts quick is easy. Finding them cheap is not - unfortunately.
There's a couple ways to look at it - depending on Santa.
1) Do nothing for now - as long as all your corals are getting enough light.
2) Probabaly the quickest - least painful way to go would to just replace the soggy ballast with an exact duplicate.
Contact a Hamilton Lighting dealer - or order it online.
Whoever has it in stock - and ship out to you pronto.
3) If on the other hand - you wanted to upgrade to 250 watters - then that's more complicated and expensive - as you know
You'd need new ballast(s) and bulbs and most likely new sockets too. Most 250 watt single ended lamps take a mogul socket.
I'm not 100% sure - but I think many 175 lamps take a standard socket ?
If you're interested in working up a decent MH light package - let us know. There are tons of choices - some good - some not so good.
Dual ballasts will drive two lamps. Save some money over two single ballasts.
250 watt HQI ballasts and the 10,000K Ushio is a great choice.
What size tank you have ?
What corals do you keep and plan to keep ?
What type of canopy do you have now ?
Is the wall plug ( home circuit ) rated at 15 amps or higher ?
What do you WANT to do vs what do you think you'll have to do ?
How good have you been this year - and does Santa deliver early in your house ?
Does Santa have a VISA Card ?

 

[maryc137]

Is Gig Harbor in Washington? If so, how far are you from Vancouver, Wash? I know a LFS store there that has a used 175 watt MH for sale.

 

[krux]

if you have a fairly big tank, and want to go to 400w mh lights, you can get a highbay fixture off of the big auctions ite for under a hundred bucks, and bulbs can be bought from various online vendors for about 75 bucks for low end bulbs.

 

[blennybabe]

Thanks so much for your replies. I am looking to upgrade to two 250w. If possible I would like to get a dual ballast and get the 250 watt HQI ballasts and the 10,000K Ushio like Broomer suggested. I have been very good this year, but unfortunately santa has a morgage to pay this month. I think I'll end up leaving things as they are for now. I have a single actinic flourescent on the side where the ballast is out. I hope this will keep the coraline from dieing. if anyone can recomend a good supplier, relatively cheap, please let me know. My email is Mylilpony7@aol.com

 

[blennybabe]

also, the bulbs i have are in mogul sockets, would I need to buy new sockets? Or could I just leave everything wired and then just plug the sockets into the new ballasts?

 

[reefsoe]

you shouldnt need new sockets unless they got burnt in a short

 

[blennybabe]

Nope the sockets are fine. Will the moguls need to be rewired to attach to the remote ballast, or will the connection I have fit all ballasts?

 

[reefsoe]

depends on the ballast... if it has a quick connect or not.
mine didnt sockets did, so i had to splice it up, it was easy so if you have question ill be around

 

[slothy]

Originally posted by sammystingray
The ballast was soaked when it had no power coming in? Let it dry. Can't short anything without power. Am I missing something........if so......sorry.
nope your right, take it apart and blow dry it dry...
done this many times with items being dropped in water... along as it wasnt plugged (or plugged in after) in your good to go