christyf5
11-01-2005, 04:26 AM
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/party/party0006.gif
Woot! I just got my new VHO ballast back from IceCap and immediately got to work on it. Man if I had known what a rats nest of wiring this was gonna be I would have gone PFO for sure. :confused: Anyhoo, money spent..wiring done...yada yada. On to the results!
So I've got two NO bulbs in there for now. Previously I had NO actinics running on a "Home Depot" ballast which got the job done but lately I've been getting sick of the yellow and figured I should really see what else is out there. At the time it was either go VHO or upgrade my ballasts to run higher K bulbs (currently running 6500ks). A used VHO ballast came up and I snapped it up. It came with a dimmer and due to a screw loose in the operator, the ballast blew and I had to send it in to Ice Cap for repair. Three weeks later minus dimmer (due to the ineptness on my part) the VHOs are up and running and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I mean whats a few watts right? The VHOs light my tank all on their own compared to a few glowy things in the dark before. Its just awesome.
And then the moment of truth. I turned the MH's back on.
Ah 'tis a thing of beauty I tells ya. Crisp bluey whiteness. Screw the new ballasts! (heh just kidding, gotta wait a few more paychecks for that :razz:).
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/oct202005a.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/oct312005a.jpg
Gotta love that big purple blotch at the back eh? And the "purple" tang :wink: Ya ya I'm working on it.
Oh and if you can't see the difference in the photos, take a gander at this pic. My refugium didn't look like such a pile of crap (well for lighting anyways) before the change. Now it definitely could use a little something (besides rock :razz:).
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/tankandfuge.jpg
Woot! I just got my new VHO ballast back from IceCap and immediately got to work on it. Man if I had known what a rats nest of wiring this was gonna be I would have gone PFO for sure. :confused: Anyhoo, money spent..wiring done...yada yada. On to the results!
So I've got two NO bulbs in there for now. Previously I had NO actinics running on a "Home Depot" ballast which got the job done but lately I've been getting sick of the yellow and figured I should really see what else is out there. At the time it was either go VHO or upgrade my ballasts to run higher K bulbs (currently running 6500ks). A used VHO ballast came up and I snapped it up. It came with a dimmer and due to a screw loose in the operator, the ballast blew and I had to send it in to Ice Cap for repair. Three weeks later minus dimmer (due to the ineptness on my part) the VHOs are up and running and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I mean whats a few watts right? The VHOs light my tank all on their own compared to a few glowy things in the dark before. Its just awesome.
And then the moment of truth. I turned the MH's back on.
Ah 'tis a thing of beauty I tells ya. Crisp bluey whiteness. Screw the new ballasts! (heh just kidding, gotta wait a few more paychecks for that :razz:).
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/oct202005a.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/oct312005a.jpg
Gotta love that big purple blotch at the back eh? And the "purple" tang :wink: Ya ya I'm working on it.
Oh and if you can't see the difference in the photos, take a gander at this pic. My refugium didn't look like such a pile of crap (well for lighting anyways) before the change. Now it definitely could use a little something (besides rock :razz:).
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/tankandfuge.jpg