Dual 250w MH and canopy; not all good

Being tired of trying to raise my many SPS with PC lighting, I decided to assemble a MH retrofit and build a canopy to house it all.

First, the outside of the canopy:



Inside, showing 1 of 2 fans with heat sensors, reflectors, moguls/bulbs and moonlights (toward the backs of the reflectors). The fans pull air into the canopy, and though they get a tad loud when both bulbs are burning, they are almost idle when the lights go off. This saved the need for a seperate timer.



Picture of the inside of 1 of 2 ballast boxes, complete with lighted rocker switch and disconnect:




Now the problem.

I didn't mount the ballasts properly as I found out (a bit too late). The metal housing of the coil needs to be in firm contact with the metal enclosure in order to dissipate the insane amount of heat these things generate.

Here is the same setup after only 6 hours of use:



I took both fixtures apart and re-mounted the ballasts as was recommended, but they now have a constantly bad smell when running. As a result, the canopy is back in the garage until I get a set of 250w, electronic ballasts. :-/

For those who are thinking of using magnetic ballasts in a DIY enclosure, be sure you have some way for them to dissipate the heat!!!

 

Crap that sucks man.

So the ballasts were in the canopy?

Thanks for the detail with pics though, when I do stuff like this, I post the same way hoping it will at least prevent someone else from doing it too.

 

Yeah, it sucks! The ballasts weren't in the canopy, but I didn't design the thing to accomodate my PC light fixture. As a result, I had to take the entire thing down until I get some new ballasts.

 

Ugh. Well at least you were around to smell it and you didn't burn your house down.

 

That sucks, But thanks for sharing. I'm sure you're miss fortune will help others.

So you are now going to purchase the full ballast?

J

 

Yep. As soon as I get a handle on which ballast is better between the Ice Cap, EVC or CoralVue I'll buy a set. I'm looking for electronic ballasts as they don't get near as hot as the magnetic and run near silent. A couple of days with those hot, stinky things I put together was enough to make me decide that the extra $$ for electronic is well worth it.

It wouldn't be much savings on more magnetic ballasts if I burn my house down. [smiley=ohwe.gif]

 

Hey Gravit,
Wow....You were really fortunate not to have a fire.
Hey, How long did you have your MH setup running. Do you like the PFO reflectors? Were you mounting your PC actinic on the outside of the reflector? If so how does that work for you? I have a 150 gal that I want to use those reflectors on.
As to electronic ballasts. I have used Ice Cap and ARO. No problems with either. I think the Ice Cap are about 125 and the Aro are 105 to 110.
Nice tank!
Scott

 

Fortunately, I stayed home from work the first day I ran the MH setup to monitor things, so I could have dealt with any issues accordingly.

I ran the setup for 6 hours the first day, made some changes and ran it for another 6 hours yesterday. The ballasts still smell terrible and the heat generated is too much for my comfort, so I put my PC fixture back on for a few days.

So far, the PFO reflectors seem great with even light distribution. I don't have my PC actinics on as I went with 14,000K MH bulbs, but am thinking about it down the road. In order to have access via the front doors in the canopy, I had to remove one of the PC flanges, but I left the ones in the back. Thanks for the compliment on the tank! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

 

You can get a replacement ballast for about $50.00.
If it was an ANSI M58 ballast. If you needed the pulse start ballast (ANSI M138) They are within a couple of dollars of each other. http://www.1000bulbs.com/category.php?category=171
http://www.1000bulbs.com/category.php?category=173
Here is an excellent link to bulbs and ballast requirements as far as probe, pulse, and hqi ballasts go.
http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/metal_halide_ansi These links are for informational use only as I have not purchased anything from these companies.
Jim

 

Thanks, but I want to go electronic based on the amount of heat and noise produced by the magnetics. I know I'll breathe easier not having to think about the heat problem, and the noise level of my current setup is just a bit on the extreme side. I can't hear my 960 gph external pump over the ballast noise...thats gotta say something.