lighting question? what do i have?

[goon5516]

i bought this setup about a year ago and it has been sitting in my garage for a year. i finally set up the tank and sump. its a 180 gallon 72 inches long. right now its set up as a FOWLR but sometime in the near future i would like to dabble in some easy to take care of corals. what i want to do is get the lighting problem fixed so that i can move my fish from 55g into 180. here are the pics i took and the best description i could dobc i have never dealt with lighting equipment like this. any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

picture #1 this is of the whole setup. 2 super actinic FR72T12/VHO. 4 working fans and the 3 light fixtures in the middle

picture#2 coralvue vho ballast 120v/50hz F40/T12 plugged it in and lights never came on

picture#3 the three ends for the 3 middle lights

 

[mikem]

The 3 center lights are Metal Halides (MH). You would have to read the bulb or the ballast for them to see how many watts they are and how many K they are. The K value will be the color look of the tank.

 

[mikem]

The 2 tube lights are VHO's. Plug them in again and wiggle the bulbs around to see if thats the problem.

 

[mikem]

For the 3 middle lights, connect white to white and black to black from the wire to the bulb. Wire nut them and tape them up.

 

[mikem]

Do you have ballasts for the metal halides? Whats attached to the ends of the wires for the halides?

 

[goon5516]

there are no ballasts for the MH. the pics shown are of the end of about a 3 ft section of wire coming from the wired up MH's like u described (white to white Bl to BL). what kind of ballast and bulbs would u suggest for a 180 gallon with only a few easier to take care of corals. also are the vho's sufficient enough or too powerful? thanx for the help mike.



ryan

 

[goon5516]

the MH wires say 300v on it. plugged in vho again and jiggled bulbs no luck. but i did notice that yellow and brown wires and not connected to any coming from the ballast. sorry this stuff is all new to me!!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

The 300v is the voltage rating for the wire...rather meaningless in your application. Markings on the bulbs are the important numbers. Bulb numbers are going the tell you the temperature and wattage of the bulbs.

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

Plug in the VHO ballast and slowly rotate the bulbs until you hear a "click". The dark white part of the bulbs should face the top of the canopy because it's the built in reflector. You may have to loosen the piece on the endcap so you can turn the bulbs.
You can do a google search for the ballast wiring diagram which will show where each wire is supposed to go.

super actinic FR72T12/VHO:
super actinic is the color of the bulb which is very blue.
FR72 is the length of the bulb (72" / 6feet)
T12 is the diameter of the bulb (as opposed to T8 or T5)
VHO stands for "Very High Output" ( as opposed to HO: High Output or NO: Normal Output)

Check out this website for more information http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/
Lighting is one of the most important aspects of the aquarium and the most expensive. So it's a good idea to become familiar with the different types and intensities so you can compare that to the kinds of corals you may want to keep in the future.

 

[mikem]

What town are you in? We might have a reefer in your area that might be able to stop over and look at your lights to give you a hand.

 

[goon5516]

im on route 34 on the boarder of old bridge and matawan. thanx for the help guys

 

[mikem]

I'm local to you. I can stop by and take a look at it to see if it needs anything. Or I live in Middletown-Keansburg if you ever want to bring it over here and we can figure it out. It looks to be a good setup for most any kind of corals.

 

[goon5516]

sounds good mike . i will have to pm you because this weekend is no good bc of work and a bachelor party but maybe we can figure something out for next week.

 

[mikem]

Got the PM Ryan. I'll see ya next week.