New lighting info/suggestions

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DeanneL

Membership Expired
I've been a T5 user for the last 6 years and was very happy with them. (They were quiet, ran relatively cool and looked nice). When upgrading from 55 to 150 gallons, I bought a tank that came with two 175w metal halides. These lights are noisy, hot and very blue. (I like the blue look, but these are VERY blue.) Plus one just tripped my circuit breaker when I turned it on earlier. I'm not sure how old the massively heavy ballast is or how old the bulbs are. Is that normal for the humming and buzzing when you start them up? What is the lifespan of a metal halide ballast? How do you know when bulbs need to be replaced? New bulbs are $60+ each. I don't want to throw money at these lights if they need to be scrapped.
 
it depends on what type of ballast, if it is magnetic or electronic, my electronic ballasts are about 4 years old and are still running fine. bulbs are normally good for about 9 months, but it is all dependent on your ballast, type of bulb, wattage, and usage. i change my 25o watt bulbs out at 10 months.
 
Each Ballast can pull 3 amps... they will heat up the longer they are on... and they do make noise as they start up... I just added 2 - 15 amp dedicated breakers for my system... Now the spouse can plug in normal house hold items without tripping a breaker... My total system with everything on is pulling 20 amps... You way want to add up your total system to see if you need additional power.
 
More lighting questions...

Just removed all the metal halides because I purchased two LED units. These are going to be mounted inside the canopy. I cut two large squares out of the top of the canopy so the LED modules can be dropped into the hole and secured. The LEDs are dimmable so I have to connect them to the drivers and also to an Apex controller. First question: do I mount the drivers right inside the canopy as well? I have a T5 ballast I was going to use to supplement the LEDs. Where would be best to mount that?
 
@Red wrote:
Each Ballast can pull 3 amps... they will heat up the longer they are on... and they do make noise as they start up... I just added 2 - 15 amp dedicated breakers for my system... Now the spouse can plug in normal house hold items without tripping a breaker... My total system with everything on is pulling 20 amps... You way want to add up your total system to see if you need additional power. said:
where do you get 3 amps. Most a 175 watt ballast is around 1.6 amps.

175 watts/110 volts = 1.59 amps




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