going oldschool

[Qasimja]

so ive been unhappy with my lighting situation for a while now i have 3 blackbox leds and i have shadowing from not building the stands high enough and having too few lights i was going to get some noop lights or another sort of light that i could mount to the tank on an arm that wasnt too expensive then i came across a member on my local reef club selling a mh/t5 unit i asked what size it was and another member messaged me saying he had a 72" one for sale 3x 250W MH and 8x 39W T5 current usa i used to use this light like 8 years ago and i loved it so i brought it from him came with the legs to mount over the tank and all i paid next to nothing for it so i can go back to leds in the future

 

[jda]

I still use MH. Turn the T5s off when the MH are on... no need to waste the energy since the MH need no help. you can use the T5 for after hours viewing or dusk/dawn if you care. 14k Phoenix is still best-of-breed in 250w Double Ended - great look, growth and an inexpensive bulb.

Hollar if you have any more questions or need to know how to fix anything in case something does not work... you can usually repair these for a few bucks.

 

[Protodad]

Just picked up a 48” version. 4 T5 and 2 MH. Looking forward to putting new bulbs in it.

 

[Bpb]

All hail MH. Good to have another one in the club

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Agreed, doubt you will be unhappy. I would make sure you know how long the ballasts have been ran, if it’s been used for years on end get new ones and make sure the reflectors and glass is super clean.

 

[Vette67]

Old school metal halide user here too. Welcome back! You won’t be disappointed. My ballasts are pushing 20 years old and show no evidence of failure. You should get plenty of life out of them.

 

[Bpb]

Beauty of metal halides is you can purchase backup redundancy for super cheap compared to other options. If you were to go with top shelf led units such as radions or orpheks, and wanted to keep even just one backup you'd obviously be spending 800-1000 bucks to have it just sit in waiting...or have to wait up to a week to get a replacement in place while you fix the broken one. If a halide ballast dies, you can have a backup one in place for $100 or less. Even shopping used you're still at 1/10 the price in redundancy. That is a big deal to me. Though I suppose redundancy with black boxes is alot cheaper. I keep two backup MH ballasts just in case.

 

[Vette67]

Beauty of metal halides is you can purchase backup redundancy for super cheap compared to other options. If you were to go with top shelf led units such as radions or orpheks, and wanted to keep even just one backup you'd obviously be spending 800-1000 bucks to have it just sit in waiting...or have to wait up to a week to get a replacement in place while you fix the broken one. If a halide ballast dies, you can have a backup one in place for $100 or less. Even shopping used you're still at 1/10 the price in redundancy. That is a big deal to me. Though I suppose redundancy with black boxes is alot cheaper. I keep two backup MH ballasts just in case.

Good idea. I should do the same. I’ve probably become too complacent and since I haven’t had problems in there past, I figure I’m good to go. I should look into getting a couple backup ballasts, just in case. I do see used ones pop up here often enough, and I should jump on one of those.

 

[F i s h y]

I used to run that system and loved it. Decided on T5 LED for my new build. I hope I don't regret it...

 

[Bpb]

I'm upgrading tanks soon to a 60"x24"x24" 150 gallon and have 3 lumenbright mini pendants at my disposal with 16.5" diameter each. I will be hanging them 15-20" off the water. I cant decide if I'll actually need all 3 or if two will do the trick. Sure wouldn't mind having 250 less watts of heat and energy if I can swing it. I guess I need to build the canopy and mounting hardware (yet to be finished) to where I can move he pendants around easily to see where I can get the most effective overlap but still be in the 350-500 par range up at the top of the rocks. I've got all 3 to use if i need them but I sure would rather just use 2 if I can. This scape will be wall to wall top to bottom acropora

 

[X-37B]

Funny. I have 2 lumenbrite DE reflectors, 2 hqi ballasts, and 2 14k 250 watt phoenix bulbs, new in the closet.
Was going to use on my 120 but found a used ATI T5 unit for next to nothing.
I run 8 bulbs 4" from the surface.
Already, after almost 1 year, looking to upgrade to larger system.
I will be getting another set of MH for the next project and run 3-4 depending on tank size.
Long live MH lol!
I have a 150 DE hqi unit I ran on my 25 nano!
I liked the look of the black box led on that little tank and it grew corals well.
The 150 was awesome and I only changed to the led to see the results and just stuck with it lol.

 

[Qasimja]

So I was getting ready to take my old lights down and mount this light later today and I realized I had no idea what type of bulbs it had turns out it already has phoenix 14k de bulbs I was told he replaced the bulbs like 3 months before he went led but I'll order some more just in case

 

[oreo54]

so ive been unhappy with my lighting situation for a while now i have 3 blackbox leds and i have shadowing from not building the stands high enough and having too few lights i was going to get some noop lights or another sort of light that i could mount to the tank on an arm that wasnt too expensive then i came across a member on my local reef club selling a mh/t5 unit i asked what size it was and another member messaged me saying he had a 72" one for sale 3x 250W MH and 8x 39W T5 current usa i used to use this light like 8 years ago and i loved it so i brought it from him came with the legs to mount over the tank and all i paid next to nothing for it so i can go back to leds in the future

Hard to argue w/ 1000 Watts of photons...

 

[Qasimja]

So on the first day using the lights one of the ballasts starts making a burning smell so i turned it off im looking on amazon for a replacement ballast would the one below work?

Ballast

 

[Bpb]

What kind of ballast was it

 

[Qasimja]

What kind of ballast was it

this is the exact model found the image on google

 

[vetteguy53081]

MH, still one of the best lights around

 

[Bpb]

this is the exact model found the image on google

Ballast probably shot. I’d pick up some Hamilton’s, luxcore, lumatek, or galaxy ballasts.

 

[Qasimja]

Ballast probably shot. I’d pick up some Hamilton’s, luxcore, lumatek, or galaxy ballasts.

for the time being i found a local person selling me a "CORALIFE AQUALIGHT #53069 250 WATT DOUBLE-ENDED HQI METAL HALIDE BALLAST " i will use that for the time being til i can order more just in case one of the others go out

 

[jda]

Take the cover off and make sure that there is not an insect or mouse nest in there that is causing the burning smell. Worth a shot before you trash it.