DIY 150w DE Metal Halide in a 30" Custom Sea Life PC fixture

[dedfish]

I just installed a 150w DE metal halide in my 30" Custom Sea Life 2x65 PC fixture.

 

[necco]

Nice work! Do you need to get special glass for that fixture now?

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

Did you upgrade the fans?

 

[dedfish]

Yes. I got a piece of tempered low e glass from Contract Glass in Wilmington(see Source thread for phone #)

Yes. The fans were upgraded. It had one fan and I replaced that with 2 fans, one on each end. The new fans are quieter and move more air. One sucks in and one blows out. The fixture is very cool to the touch on one side and warm on the other. You can hold your hand on it with no problem. Even with my hand directly under the MH bulb, but not touching the glass, it is a very reasonable temp.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

Excellent job!

 

[dedfish]

Hmm. Well that was fun while it lasted. I fired up the mh over the tank around 7pm and then 10mins before Sopranos ends it just goes out. I think the ballast is fried. It's no longer making any noise, there was a very slight hum before.

 

[Mike75]

Cool mod. I've seen a few similar ones on the nano-reef forum.

Did you figure out if it definitely was the ballast?

 

[dedfish]

yea. I sent the ballast to icecap and they replaced it with a newer style ballast. Took less than a week.