Bulb replacement choices

[TANGOMAN]

I'll be ordering bulbs in December again and I'd value some advice on what I should select.
I'll tell what I've tried and what I want to try: It's for my 60g, corner tank. "Diamond" shaped. I use two 36 "(30W), and two 24"(20W) bulbs. A total of 100 W. 1.6 watts per gallon if I figured it out right. I'd like to go with PC lighting to increase that number but financial restraints...well, you know...
Two years ago I used a "mix" on each ballast. One bulb actinic, one 10,000K super daylight. My Coraline growth was awesome ! I then began obtaining some "beginner" corals. They did ok but not great. The following year I used 10,000K bulbs on the 30W ballast and actinics on the 20W ballast. My corals now flourished but my coraline algae soon bleached. I really liked the "neon glow" appearance of the corals when actinics and daylight bulbs were on separate ballasts/timers. So did the coral obviously but not the coraline. Water conditions, Ca etc. have not changed so I'm sure it's lighting that has been the "determining factor".

This year I'm thinkin' I'd experiment with 50/50 bulbs. I find lighting very complex and hard to understand. :oops: Should I go with the full 100 watts 50/50 bulbs ? I really like the actinic "night glow" for that first and last hour but I can live without if I get corals that flourish AND good coraline growth.

While we're here, my 90g will be gettin' new bulbs for Christmas too. I've only used 10,000K PC's,(2x55W) with a 36W actinic. I plan to build a canopy and incorporate two 40W actinic bulbs but those financial retraints I mentioned earlier...anyway. I've had contiuous algae problems since I bought this tank used, two years ago. :x Should I try 55W, 50/50 bulbs and scrap the single actinic thats gettin' old anyway ?

I'd sure appreciate any recomendations before I travel to the U.S. to sell my blood plasma so I can afford the annual bulb exchange. Thanks !

[StirCrazy]

what is your plan as far as corals you want to keep? this will make it easyer to recomend some lights.. for instance I think ig you wanted to try some corals with higher light requirments you might try putting a 250 watt MH ontop of the corner tank.. one bulb should light it up real nice.. then you can arange the other bulbs as actinics around the edges.

Steve

[TANGOMAN]

Aaaah, I was afraid someone would ask what type of corals I want to keep. Unfortunately, I know more about lighting than I do about corals. Currently I have a pipe organ coral that did awesome once I increased daylight bulbs in exchange for actinic. That coral I'm presuming was beyond what I should have began with but it's doin' good. I have some "button polyps" (?),dandilions,er, mushrooms.(damn weeds), and one other coral, I don't know what it is :oops: , small yellow polyps that are spreading nicely. Stop laughin' at me !
I'm interested in "leather corals" (?) in the future. MH isn't really an option right now. $$$ and low profile (4") canopy.

[AJ_77]

Doug, are your ballasts remote? If so, then it's time to SWAP THOSE PUPPIES OUT! Do a search on "overdriving" and/or "overdriven" to see how people have been getting WAY more pop out of NO FL tubes, typically the T8's. The normal FL ballast is replaced by the electronic variety, don't know if you've heard about this or not.

Victor (Reef Burnaby) has the classic post on the topic on RC, and people on this board have tried variations of this approach. (Careful of Steve's variations... :D )

In Calgary, I guess Cdn Man is the local whiz, having something like 19 bulbs wired in this fashion over his 90 at one point. I've got 3 tubes blazing over my nano tank right now. Tau2301 is using the same arrangement with 4-footers. It works pretty well and is budget-effective.

Aj

[StirCrazy]

(Careful of Steve's variations... :D )

Aj

what??? am I not the one who actualy brought hard numbers to this lighting game? :wink:

Seriously Doug, why don't you upgrade to VHO or PC. you can run both on a WH ballast and would be a very substantial light upgrade.

you could swap your 36" tubes for 96 watt VHO 10000K , and the two 24" ones for VHO actinic tubes.. to run this you could use two WH7 ballasts which are 50 to 60 bucks each..

Steve

[Aquattro]

(Careful of Steve's variations... :D )

Aj

what??? am I not the one who actualy brought hard numbers to this lighting game? :wink:

Steve

I thought you were the one who brought smoke to your livingroom!! :P

[TANGOMAN]

Upgrading is my ultimate goal Steve but it aint goona' happen 'till I'm back to work. VHO ballasts are huge bucks ? I'm unfamiliar with the WH7 ballast. A good sounding option.
I've heard around here this "overdrive" thing and I had forgotten I wanted to ask. What the #!?! is this all about ? It sounds like an entertaining project when the mrs. aint around to question my doings..."it smells like something is burning..." :shock:
I am running remote ballasts.

[Mak]

LMAO Brad :lol: .

Seriously Tango I would definitly go for something like a workhorse 5 ( i think that's the one that will run the two ) and run two 55w 10k PC's and use the 60watt ballast to run the 03's. My 2 Rupi's worth :shock: .

[StirCrazy]

hehe, basicly all it is, is running NO bulbs at HO or VHO levels.. simple as that. the workhorse & ballast is like a icecap ballast, it is a electronic ballast that can run a variaty of bulbs.. you can run 4 NO's off it, or 2 HO's, or 1 VHO, BUT if you are using small VHO like my self (48" and smaller) you can run them in series and get full VHO out put from them. if you run 2 VHO bulbs in parralel you will get the same output as a IceCap.

now whar the overdriving is is taking one electronic ballast, twisting two or more of the wires togeather and running the bulb off that to increase the current. I have found now that with the cheeper cost of WH7 ballast you are just as far ahead using 2 of the WH wires to one NO bulb to take it to HO levels.. I ran like this but I got more light by using VHO tubes on the WH& in series.. actualy blew away the overdriven NO's I was doing 4X overdriven. hence the reason I am not overdriving anymore. (well there was the smoking accadent form a far fetched exparament...but you don't want to know about that :roll: )

either way ... overdriving or vho... they both requare you to buy some more ballasts and possable tubes also..

any questions about either feel free to ask..

Steve

[StirCrazy]

LMAO Brad :lol: .

Seriously Tango I would definitly go for something like a workhorse 5 ( i think that's the one that will run the two ) and run two 55w 10k PC's and use the 60watt ballast to run my 03's. My 2 Rupi's worth :shock: .

for the extra 10 to 20 bucks get the WH7, it will light them and later if you want to upgrade to 96 watt PC's it will light them also. (that was my other sugestion two 96 watt PC's for 10000K and two 55watt VHO actinics.)

Steve

[rossb]

Sorry to add more confusion to an already murky topic. I got a couple of VHO's on sale from pet land. The commercial ballast for two 4' 110 W VHO's (from comercial lighting) is 93 bucks (100 ish with GST). You cannot directly buy from commercial lighting as they are only wholesale. That said...one can alway walk in all confident like and pick some large company (with an account with them) and tell them your going to pay for the item yourself. The really don't care :twisted: .

Here is where murky enteres it. I have quite a few standard phillips ballasts (6-8) gathering dust. Electrically you should be able to connect them together so 3X34=102 watts...which is in the VHO range. Anyone ever tried that?

How about connecting some 2' bulbs with pulse start ballast to the 34 W ballast to over drive them? would that work?

Note of caution...every electronic component contains a certain amount of smoke. Once all the smoke is out..well they quit working...plus that smoke is really really bad for you

[Delphinus]

I think you can only overdrive with electronic ballasts. The standard or tar ballasts are not overdriveable. I don't know the technical details of how's and why's though. Just going on what I've read somewhere.

Just wanted to add, when they say WH7 or WH9, they mean Workhorse electronic ballasts put out by Fulham. The guys out in BC are (I think) getting theirs from Allbrite. But the Fulham (www.fulham.com) site shows that Litemor (www.litemor.com) is also a distributor. Although the address shown on the Fulham site is an Ontario store, we have a Litemor in Calgary and so it seems plausible to me if one franchise in the chain carries them, then so will another. These ballasts are cool little toys, electronic ballasts capable of many different configurations (PC, VHO, NO, PC, or overdriven NO), and cheap. The WH7 is capable of, um ... don't quote me I might get this wrong, 220W output (so two 4' VHO [2x110W] for example) and costs about $50-$60. Compare that to an Icecap 430 which also is capable of running 220W output which costs more like $200. I know Coralife and I think some other VHO ballasts are also available but I think they're in the $100-$150 range and plus they're only VHO I think (ie., not capable of running other different configurations, eg. PC) so when you look at that it's pretty evident why these WH ballasts are popular.

I apologize if everyone already knows all this, just wanted to chime in with my own two pennies worth...

[TANGOMAN]

Thanks for all the input...I can see now my one question is going to leave me asking twenty more. :? Ah, I love this hobby. And to think it all started with a damn fish bowl.
I'm not using "electronic" ballasts'. Like Bob, I too am cheap. So that eliminates the option of "overdriven" lighting, correct ? I do like the sound of this WH ballast and it's affordable in the future. I'll price it at Litemore, but has anyone dealt with Eecol Electric ? I'd get a company discount there so I think it's worth lookin' into. They got lighting stuff up the ying yang there too. I find those places really intimidating. Those of you that recall a previous discussion about the reaction ya' get at Home Depot know what I'm gettin' at. At least I know what I'm talkin' about there... sort of. :wink:
Oh ya', what about the use of 50/50 bulbs ? Let's assume, ya' I know what it spells if it's broken down, I don't change my ballast configuration in the near future. Is my original theory worth trying ? Just to regain the Coraline growth and maintain my current corals ?

[StirCrazy]

Here is where murky enteres it. I have quite a few standard phillips ballasts (6-8) gathering dust. Electrically you should be able to connect them together so 3X34=102 watts...which is in the VHO range. Anyone ever tried that?

Ross, get thioes evil thought out of your head.. I tried it and all that happens is you see smoke then have to buy new ballast... NO MORE THAN ONE BALLAST PER BULB, AND NEVER HOOK BALLASTS TOGEATHER.. this is what Brad was talking about me smoking the front room.. :roll:

at anyrate.. the WH7 is cheeper than the industreal VHO ballast you were talking about and it is electronic instead of magnetic.. besides lower power costs a electronic ballast will also burn cooler and extend bulb life.


Delphinus, maby give them a call and see... it would be interesting to know what price you guys can get out there as we get ripped off on everything almost on the Island :roll:


Steve

[rossb]

dang...stir crazy I have these ballasts that are gathering dust...and I got a neeeed for light. OK how about this...what if ...OK anyone need any 34 watt ballast?? give me a shout.

On the commercial ballast...I completely missed the WH ballast when I was scouring the net ... in looking at these things they are the way to go.

[Mak]

Delphinus, maby give them a call and see... it would be interesting to know what price you guys can get out there as we get ripped off on everything almost on the Island :roll:


Steve


HEHehe, I got my WH7 for $49.00. So if anybody goes in tell'em "Mak quoted you $49"...lol. Also got a few 03's 24", 36", and 48" for $13.50...shhhhhhhhhhhh shhhhhhhhhhhhh :roll: