70W MH DIY*need ballast*

[Naked Wookie]

well I am planning on doing a 70W MH doing the standard halogen retrofit for my 5.5g reef tank.

now my issue right now is finding a 70watt ballast.
I may still look at T5HO if I can also find cheap ballasts and kits to run it with.

does anyone know of any suppliers and such fo 70w electronic ballasts?.

http://www.ballastwise.com/item.asp?PID=112&FID=17&level=1
that is the ballast I have been looking at but I am still waiting on them for a reply concerning shipping to canada.
anyone dealt with them?

if any reefers have 70w ballasts they would be willing to part with I also would be happy.

trying to do this on a budget so could get interesting yet.

thanks for any help and replies

[Ripwoop]

best bet is to find somthing used. Normally goes for about half the price. I tried looking into doing all that and for the time and trouble...it just wasn't worth it for me. :) jmo

[mark]

see mseepman's reply here (http://216.187.96.54/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=49288&highlight=70w)

[mseepman]

I use a 70W ballastwise ballast. Here's my thread when I built a DIY canopy for my nano tank. http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=41662&page=2

Ballastwise will ship to Canada, but you have to do all the work...and by work I mean you have to arrange the shipping for Fedex or someone to pickup at their location and ship to you. They really don't want to be involved in it. I found it a headache at best, but the ballast was well priced.

[Naked Wookie]

yah and I am living at college campus dorms so rules that one out in alot of ways. guess i will wait and see what I can find with some more research

[Starry]

got mine off ebay 6 months ago. works great.

[mseepman]

I wouldn't assume that you can't get one. They are on real cheap right now so even with some shipping, it should be worth it.

Call their 1-800 number and speak to them...they will help you out.

[brizzo]

Wow! I was searching around fleabay, found a couple models .. then was searching for places to buy ...

No other brand/price can even get close to touching ballastwise (100 - 120 versus 30)....

Check out http://www.hatchtransformers.com/ if you're willing to pay over $100 .. they seem to have some nice models and in various sizes and mounting configurations.

[mseepman]

Here's another option...http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=50160

[Naked Wookie]

I might have to look into that. right now talking with Liv in aquaria canada he apparently has a ballast he can sell me so likely going to go that route

[TheMikey]

Yeah, I ditched the DIY MH after I found out what a pain it was going to be to get a ballast. I also felt more comfortable going with a pre-made unit so I bought a lightly used 96W T5HO after checking out Nano-reef's thread on T5s... the colour combinations seem exciting.

Incidently I have a couple of MH bulbs sitting around if you want to buy some :D

[mseepman]

I really love the MH-T5HO combo that I made up for my tank. I think the only thing I would do differently would be to DIY the T5 part rather than utilizing a fixture inside my Canopy. Then I would have used 4 18" T5HO bulbs rather than just 2.