Xavier Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 It's been awhile since my regular postings.. primarily due to all that's been going on.. quick run down on events that have led up to my current situation... as of 1/31, I'm a married man.. and we just closed escrow on a new home.. this last weekend has been our adventure in moving... hence, the lighting emergency... Since we were moving, I decided to overhaul the tank since I was loosing ground in my fight against the hair algae.. I went to Target, bought some large tubs, put the tubs in the garage, moved everything into the tubs, and wired up the equipment... yeay... everything works! I fire up the actinic and the hood fan... no problem.... I fire up the 250W MH.... WHAM! Sparks out of the ballast, and popped the circuit (I've been in our new house for all of about 2 hours). It would be my luck that the only, ONLY, outlet in the garage is tied into the kitchen... with the fridge... I built my ballast, but haven't rewired the part the fried off yet because I'll simply blow the circuit again... At this point, I have a single 55W actinic over the tank... and the only thing I can think to do to keep the corals alive is to move everything out onto our patio... sounds easy enough, except that our temps have been dropping to about upper 30's, lower 40's at night, and it's been windy, and I'm concerned about UVs... I currently have some GSP, some Zoos, two leathers, candy canes, shrooms, rics.. Any ideas on what I can do to get them the light they need without freezing them at night, and baking them during the day, until I can find a solution to run my halides? Thanks folks! Link to comment
jmt Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 Run one of those large orange extension cords into the garage from another outlet? Link to comment
Xavier Posted February 9, 2004 Author Share Posted February 9, 2004 Well.. I found out there's an outlet in the ceiling for the garage door... but I don't know what circuit it's on (yet).. I'll be finding out tonight... but if that's on the same circuit, I still have a problem... I can't run an extension cord through the house because it'll prop open the door, and the cat enjoys playing with my fish (she scared one out of the tank about a month ago), and is adept at opening doors.. Link to comment
jmt Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 Hrm. How about one of those voltage controllers? Link to comment
Xavier Posted February 9, 2004 Author Share Posted February 9, 2004 Never heard of 'em.. got any info? Something you can get at a HomeDepot or electronics store.. or gotta order them online? Link to comment
bgoode Posted February 9, 2004 Share Posted February 9, 2004 You could use one of those power inverters hooked up to a car battery, I've never tried it though, so I don't know how long it would last. Link to comment
qfour20 Posted February 11, 2004 Share Posted February 11, 2004 Get a *long* extension cord. Run it out a window, and under the garage door into the garage. No cat problems, viable power in garage. -q Link to comment
Xavier Posted February 11, 2004 Author Share Posted February 11, 2004 Well.. I ran an extension cord from the garage door outlet on the ceiling over and tried it.. something is fried in the ballast .. I don't have spare parts to try, so I'm gonna have to bite the bullet... Link to comment
Derek_setter Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 for a real quick and temporary solution, you could take some bread pans (or summin similar),m some of those compact flourecent curlie q lgihts, some screw sockets for household lights, and some two prong extension cords. strip the extension cord, hook it up to the proper sections on the sockets, screw in the bulb, and see if it works, if it does, hook it up inside of the breadpan. if not revers ethe wires and try again. they are ina pretty low spectrum, and you will stll have to use an extension cord, but you will have time to shop around of r a new ballast or whatever Link to comment
digz Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 What lighting does your garage have already (ceiling lights). Swap those out for some HO lights if flourscent, OR, if the screw in bulbs, screw in some Daylight Curlies from Home Depot. Then just remember to keep the garage lights on all day. Link to comment
jmt Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Go to Home Depot, and hit up the lighting section. Go grab a metal worklight with a clip for around $5 and pick up a 20w+ Curly Q Daylight (6500k). Bada-bing, problem solved. Link to comment
Xavier Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 Hey, thanks for all the input.. I saw some compact PCs at HomeDepot the otherday.. but they were only 13W... Unfortunately the garage has only a standard light bulb.. no flourescents... but I have to go to HD again today, so I'll look up those curly Q's.. I've ordered a new ballast, hopefully that will come soon... Thanks! Link to comment
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