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Potential issue/troubleshooting with a MH/T5 light?

IOnceWasLegend

IOnceWasLegend

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I have a 250w T5/MH setup (without reflectors). It sits about 11" above the water, and I'm getting a consistent ~150 PAR throughout the tank 6" under the surface with both bulbs going.

Two questions:

1. Is that low PAR for this setup?

2. Earlier today, the ballast was buzzing a little louder than usual. I turned off the MH lights, which made the buzzing stop, but then it wouldn't turn back on (still buzzed though). Ten minutes later it turned back on. Potential issue with the ignitor/capacitor, and any way to diagnose this?
 
dswong01 said:
What bulb are using ? What the manufacturer par rating
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Using these for MH. Trying to find PAR info on them but no luck so far.

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Coral reefer said:
(Good) Reflectors make a very big difference
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Is it difficult to retrofit reflectors?
 
Radium bulbs require a bit different ballast; although an electronic 250w will fire them, they are made to be run on M80 magnetic ballast. Electronic variable wattage ie “selecta-watt” on the super lumens or hqi setting will fire the bulbs within similar caracteristics of an M80 which, by the way, are “pulse start”. The way to know if the mag ballast is or not pulse start, is to open the case, there should be a transformer, capacitor and a starter.
Most, if not all MH bulbs/ballasts, will require a cooling time after they are turned off in order to fire back again.
Check your ballasts for compatibility with the Radium bulbs.
SLS (Sunlight Supply) used to make M80 ballasts, Bluewave 2 and 7 are M80. They are not widely available anymore; Hamilton Technologies I think are one of the few suppliers of M80 ballasts and components but there should be plenty of SLS, PFO units used as paperweight, maybe just a matter of posting WTB/Looking For on the big forums. I had quite a few and could not give them away easily as the LED industry ate most of the market in aquarium lighting; still, found reefers looking for M80’s and avoided the landfill.
 
I’m thinking that maybe, in a galaxy far far away; @gimmito has a PFO hood with the reflective aluminum surface and sockets for MH and T12 but the T12 sockets are easy to swap for T5
 
*looks at that light and in best Sheriff Buford T Justice impersonation* Oooof

I would definitely place that into the "I'm not sure if it's worth the effort" category. I know some of us old timers do have some nice MH reflectors sitting around (not sure I do anymore), but looks like all you have is a flat painted white surface, and that's not going to redirect the light in the way you like it. And those bulbs look like VHO bulbs just from the size alone (although maybe they're standard T12s) not T5s (unless you changed out the bulbs from what the picture shows)

So yeah as others have said, Radium bulbs are best fired on M80 ballasts, not M58 ballasts, electronic ballasts will work but Radium bulbs are actually designed to work at 300W (which is where a M80 will push it).

But 150 PAR for 500+ watts of power does not seem very good, unless that was over an absolutely massive tank and even then I'd want more PAR unless I was only doing softies, that said I would always check PAR at various levels not just 6 inches from the surface.
 
sfsuphysics said:
*looks at that light and in best Sheriff Buford T Justice impersonation* Oooof

I would definitely place that into the "I'm not sure if it's worth the effort" category. I know some of us old timers do have some nice MH reflectors sitting around (not sure I do anymore), but looks like all you have is a flat painted white surface, and that's not going to redirect the light in the way you like it. And those bulbs look like VHO bulbs just from the size alone (although maybe they're standard T12s) not T5s (unless you changed out the bulbs from what the picture shows)

So yeah as others have said, Radium bulbs are best fired on M80 ballasts, not M58 ballasts, electronic ballasts will work but Radium bulbs are actually designed to work at 300W (which is where a M80 will push it).

But 150 PAR for 500+ watts of power does not seem very good, unless that was over an absolutely massive tank and even then I'd want more PAR unless I was only doing softies, that said I would always check PAR at various levels not just 6 inches from the surface.
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Is there any way to tell whether it's an M58 or an M80 ballast? Based on the noise, I think it's a magnetic ballast, but not sure what the difference between these two types are. Additionally, the only other info available on the ballast is the push-button switches; one of which is labeled "2MH175W" and...the other one. Also, based on feedback in this thread, and looking at the lights, I think I have T8s (specifically, these: https://www.amazon.com/A1638-40-Watt-Life-Glo-Fluorescent-48-Inch/dp/B003UFIAEA ). I replaced the MH bulbs, but have not replaced these bulbs, so any chance they might be the issue?

Re: "over an absolutely massive tank", this is just over a 48" x 24" tank. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is whether there's an issue with the ballast, an issue with the lights themselves, or if this is just what I can expect from my current setup. I don't mind putting this into the "probably not worth the effort, but worth the learning experience" category, this is all just completely new to me and I'm trying to learn. :) Any pointers for ruling one (or all) of these out?
 
Although the ballast turn on the Radium bulbs, you are better off with a regular 250w electronic.
A pair of electronic ballasts with the overdrive feature should be easy to find if the M80 is hard to acquire.
 
That would be the better choice for what you have right now, a couple of 175w bulbs will show a different PAR reading, perhaps better than the Radiums give.
I know I have at least couple 175w bulbs, new; I got them from Arnold but I have to look for them, no easy task. The T8 lamps are in my opinion, the worst for SW application. T12 VHO were awesome and are ancient history; T5-HO are the norm nowadays for hybrid lighting applications
 
xcaret said:
Although the ballast turn on the Radium bulbs, you are better off with a regular 250w electronic.
A pair of electronic ballasts with the overdrive feature should be easy to find if the M80 is hard to acquire.
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Much appreciated for the help! Sorry for all the questions, but this is an entirely new area for me. Each plug for the ballast has a 6-pin connector. Do I need to find matching connectors, or are there adapters?

xcaret said:
That would be the better choice for what you have right now, a couple of 175w bulbs will show a different PAR reading, perhaps better than the Radiums give.
I know I have at least couple 175w bulbs, new; I got them from Arnold but I have to look for them, no easy task. The T8 lamps are in my opinion, the worst for SW application. T12 VHO were awesome and are ancient history; T5-HO are the norm nowadays for hybrid lighting applications
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Interesting. Why are they the worst? And is it possible to fit in a t5 in a t8 socket, or am I stuck with t8?
 
Not sure if matching plugs would be available, maybe Hamilton Technologies would still have them in stock but the easier approach to “upgrade” the fixture (and might not be worth the effort) would be transplanting couple M80 ballasts in there. Capacitors are of high risk as in “electrocution” if you are not careful and if you are not comfortable working with electricity, steer away from it.
The T8 lamps don’t pack the punch nor a wide variety of spectrums is available. There are some T8 lamps on the market (Petco, PetsMart) that have the spectrum for saltwater applications but if you have a fish only system, then why not?
T12-VHO lamps were designed as “built-in” reflecting surface, hence no need for a reflective material as opposed with T5, T8 (the hood you have doesn’t have any reflective material) T-12’s are more powerful than the T5HO (VHO=Very High Output, HO=High Output)
I can’t recall the power output of the T12 lamps but to get an idea, a 48”T5HO lamp is tipically 54w in power rating; the similar 48”T12VHO is around 100w.
I think the drawback was/is the size. Some people overdrive T5 lamps with T12VHO specific ballasts (IceCap 430/660, ARO-VHO)
T lamps are different, you could swap the sockets but then you need to swap the ballasts.
 
If you still want to venture into MH, I think I have a couple (maybe three) Lumenarc reflectors/pendants but they are double ended so the Radium won’t work BUT I happen to have some nice Phoenix 14k bulbs, along with Giesemann and some Aquamedic doible ended
I hve some reserved for @Corallus ’cause I know he runs Phoenix 14k
Downside is I gave all 250w ballasts away while in my long descent to aquarium-equipment-free status (and I still have a long way to go)
 
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