Industrial lighting?

[FishyFishy!]

What are the chances that a reefer could use these industrial halides as tank light? If you had an in wall tank where these enourmous beasts could fit and be out of the way... and some decent bulbs were thrown in there.. could they be used? Cheap alternative if they would work.

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-s...AdIdZ237037053

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

i am running 3*400w core and coil halides over my 180glns inwall tank with no problems.

[phi delt reefer]

remember that the aquarium trade is built on lies and ignorance . Almost everything we use in the hobby is used elsewhere and is cheaper. Thats why an individual with a keen eye can really save some cash if they know what they are doing and know what they are looking for.

Granted some of the items are reef specific but even then - given the opportunity everyone in this hobby thinks they can double the price and put "safe for aquariums" on the fine print.

I dont know much about Halides but if the socket and ballast wattage match some of the bulbs you want to use i see no reason why you can't save yourself a few hundred dollars . Keep us updated - would love to see those installed

[lastlight]

I'm sure all of it except the ballasts will be fine by default. Maybe not a computer engineered reflector but good enough. Maybe someone more familiar with ballast types can chime in. Even open top a few of those would look pretty cool/industrial I think!

[patpare]

A metal halide ballast will have the same components weather you buy it at a pet store,hydroponic shop or even at you local hardware store.I usually get my ballast at hydroponic stores,you will not find proper bulbs there but the ballast are the same.So the warehouse ballast will work just make sure your bulbs are not the pulse start type,most of the older ballast in warehouse will not fire up pulse start bulbs.

[ScubaSteve]

They'd work just fine. The only trick would be to find bulbs that size in the right colour temp, and they're not cheap (though probably not as bad as what you would pay at an LFS). The ballasts on those units are totally fine. They're tri-tap, so all that means is that you can hook them up to three different voltages (120/277/347) depending where you are using them (most industrial sites run off of 277 V or 347 V for large equipment). They'd work just fine in a house... you'd just need to make a decent cover to go over them so that you don't totally **** off the wife.

My father owns a commercial/industrial electrical company and I see these lights everytime I go down to the warehouse.. he's probably got 15 used ones just sitting there. Oh, if only I had the money and room to start another tank.... sigh

[sphelps]

When you're using 400W halides you're sucking up a lot of power and even the best halide equipment is still very inefficient. For this reason you're better off investing in better reflectors that mount the bulb in the most efficient way for tank lighting. Of course this cheap alternative will work but you'll loose efficiency and it'll cost you more in the long run. It's also nice to have remote ballasts to keep them away from moisture.

So yes they work but IMO not worth the savings, the reflectors are useless so the ballast is the only really useful part. However paying $60 for a used industrial ballast makes little sense to me when you can get a new vertex for less than $150.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by sphelps

So yes they work but IMO not worth the savings, the reflectors are useless so the ballast is the only really useful part. However paying $60 for a used industrial ballast makes little sense to me when you can get a new vertex for less than $150.

Well $144.95 for a vertex balast only (no reflector or receptical) I think less than half the price for a full package that can possibly be modded might be worth it. Heck, whats $120 bucks. Imma try it. Stay tuned! (If he ever replies..)

[KevinK]

now we are talking about ballast,

I posted it once, but no responds.

I have 2 coralive ballast (150 W) --- the once that come with the coralive mh fictures,

as I have bin given these without the light unit itselve, I gust had in mind to put them on a pendant ore so.

proublem is, thy bothe cant fire up a phounix bulb, while thy are for regular DE HQI lights.

is there a way to mesure a ballast to check if thy are ok?

could it be that the coralive units have some sort of capasitor build in the unit to fire up a bulb (ax I might be missing this than.

it is gust fustrating to have the ballast sitting in a box, where I could use them.

any input?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Well $144.95 for a vertex balast only (no reflector or receptical) I think less than half the price for a full package that can possibly be modded might be worth it. Heck, whats $120 bucks. Imma try it. Stay tuned! (If he ever replies..)

Obviously you didn't understand a word I said. Good luck!