Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Anyone have any thoughts on these. I am trying to cool down the house and go with 3 electronic 400w ballast rather than 6 of the standard 250watt ballast. I can not seem to keep my house below 88degrees when all the lights are active on the tank.

Thanks for the reply,
Jeremy

Besides the heat issue, it would take a very long time to recoup the expense of a ballast much less three. I have two 400 watt magnetic ballasts and I don't think they add much heat to my house.

The heat from the ballast is not the problem with the house heat...I do like electronic ballast because of size and they are cooler...(I did have some problems with the ice cap 120v/400w) bot should not effect the house temp. One thing I do is keep the ac fan on 24/7 and use ceiling fans 24/7. this helps some.

The heat in my house is from the ballast not really the bulbs. I have 2 enclosures with 3 ballast each in them. They are sitting next to the tank and when all 6 bulbs/ballast are on, it feels like a furnice. The tank temp will then rise but I am sure that this is because the house thermometer says it is 88 inside. I really wanted to hit a wide range of spectrum which is why I went with 6 bulbs but now I am thinking 3 each 400w metal halides and maybe keep 3ea of the 250w halides.

I would bet that when all ballast are on, I could cook on the enclosure (almost).

I am wondering if 3each 400watt electronic ballast will be cooler than 3each of the 250w mag ballast. The only other option would be to ditch all 6 mag ballast and just run 3each electronic 400w ballast alone.

Thanks for the help,
Jeremy

Trust me, the heat you're experiencing is from the lights. The lights are putting off WAY more heat than the ballasts... to top it off, they're also burning water off, making the humidity higher... not too much of a problem in the summer when the A/C is running to take the water out, but we have to run a dehumidifier in the winter to keep the house somewhere close to 70%... My experience with this is with 4 x 250w w/ magnetic ballasts. Going to 400w's are not going to help you, since 400w's put off a LOT of heat, they put out more heat porportionally than a smaller bulb like a 250w.

If he's running 6 250's and wants to change to 3 (or even 4) 400's then he will have quite a bit of heat reduction. The bulbs themself will only reach a certain temp and a 400 is not 65% hotter than the 250. Also a 1000 watt is about the same temp as a 400.

Actually, 1000 watt bulbs run at a surface temp of 430 degrees Celcius which is the same temperature as their 400 watt brethren.

I can't seem to find the temp of other metal halide bulbs.

The heat problem I am experiencing is the ballast. I realize that the bulbs put off alot of heat but that is accounted for. When you walk buy the ballast box, you can feel the heat (almost like an oven). I am now running 3 250s for 8 hrs a day and 2 400s for 4 hours a day (overalpping a little) and the tank is back to an even 80-81 degrees (which is the temp my heater is set at. I think once I get down to having only 1 box with ballast inside, I should cut my heat in half (compared to 2 boxes with 2 times as many 250 watt ballast).

Of coarse, all of this is an assumption and I have been wrong many times before.

Thanks,
Jeremy

dood, thats a fire hazard, be careful, or you wont have a tank anymore,...or a house