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How-to: Make your own 70w MH Pendant


Mirepa

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Do you need a case for the ballast, or can it just be placed on the ground, ect? How do you hang the light? Is it easy to wire the ballast to the light? Does anyone have a link to a nice 500 watt floodlight for this, my Lowe's doesnt have one that looks right.

 

thanks

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how many gallons and watts is this set-up??

 

10 gallon 70 watt

 

 

Do you need a case for the ballast, or can it just be placed on the ground, ect? How do you hang the light? Is it easy to wire the ballast to the light? Does anyone have a link to a nice 500 watt floodlight for this, my Lowe's doesnt have one that looks right.

 

No you don't need a case. The way I hung my light was cut the mount plate in half. So it sits flush with the top of my hood. Yes it is easy to wire. Go to walmart and get a brinks flood the are small look decent and have a good reflector.

 

thanks

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what anemone do you have in there?

It is a rescued condy. It is its temporary home.

 

 

thanks, would this one work, okay?

 

http://www.hechinger.com/web/catalog/produ....aspx?pid=83686

 

also, what is the size of the brinks?

 

Yeah that light would work. I personally would go with something that looks a little better and is smaller. The brinks light is pretty small compared to the shop style lights. It is a 300w.

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well, Im just using it for a prop tank, so I dont care to much about how it looks, I also thought you would want it bigger, so it could reflect more light? Does it matter if that one is a 500w? Does anyone have a pic of how to hang the light, cant figure out how to do it.

 

thanks

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Well here it is. My Halide is working great . Got my new powerheads and skimmer. I know it is not a good skimmer I found that out after I bought it. DAMN I HATE THAT. My CPR HOB Fuge should be here soon along with my ato floatswitch and 36w pc light for fuge. Man I love getting stuff in the mail. Yes I know I need to paint the back of my tank. It is all in the works. It is a work in progress. Expensive and I still don't have very much coral yet. Man I love this hobby. Thanks for the idea.

post-25228-1171927500_thumb.jpg

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Is the bulb supposed to flicker in the beginning. I attached all the wires and the bulb just flickers so i turned it off. Not sure whether to let it flicker until it gets broken in, or if the flikering is bad.

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WOW this topic is HUGE and interesting just wondering if anyone has ordered from www.vic lite.com and how long shipping took customer service and all that... they are the only people i can find that carry 150W HQI astralux bulbs. Does anyone knows who sells them in north america ?

 

Cheers,

Ken

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My nais ballast has 2 blue wires coming out to hook to the pendant. I take it it does not matter which goes to the white and the black wires on the pendant? My bulb will not fire, but I am getting voltage to the socket. I just got a new bulb today and nothing.

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Well I have the same Nais ballast as you. Just look at the original pictures in the beginning of this topic. Lay everything down the same direction and hook it up using the same sides as the post with the colored wires. That is what I did and I had no problems. I don't know much about MH ballasts and I had no problems.

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ok, I got my ballast and the fixture, The fixture has the black and white cords that connect to the red and blue cords. But then there is a green cord, I bought the ballast at illumning with the juction box and power cords, so the green cord is already grounded on it. Were does the green cord go on the fixture? And since I got a power cord with my ballast, I dont need to use the one with the fixture, right?

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Not sure if this comes up in here, don't have the patience to go through 13 pages. I heard that you should use a UV shield with MH lights. Does the glass on the Brinks light filter UV? Sorry for the dumb question.

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yes, I think all halogen lamps have uv filted glass because they emit uv rays like de metal halides do.

 

Just finished mine, used the regent, and spraypainted it black, it works great

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That's cool, I would like to see some pics. I have the Brinks light but need a ballast and bulb. There is a guy in the classifieds selling the AstraLux bulbs for $50 shipped but he won't answer my PM's. :mellow:

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Ok heres mine:

 

Here's the Regent Fixture, I sprat painted black and the preassembled Nais ballast from illumning, it was incredibly easy to hook up, took around 2 minutes!!!

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Here are some other angles:

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The ballast w/ the junction box of connection( its really small, fits in your hand):

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The reflector with 20K ushio ( couldnt find an Australux, but this will work ok):

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Here's the light on, had to be toned down its so bright!:

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Heres it on one of my tanks, the corals are mostly closed b/c the lights were off, but its a nice blue color and looks pretty good, should work great on my 10g prop:

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And here it is resting on some eggcrate, but Im planning on hanging it 10'' above a 10g AGA( sorry for the bad pic):

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This was def. the easiest DIY ever!

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sweet. I just ordered the same ballast setup from illuming. Even though it adds significant cost it looks clean and reliable. Compared to the $240 oceanlight pendant I was about to buy this is a steal.

 

one question though - is that steel cable for hanging that you have looped around the pendant? how secure is that since there are no attachment hooks on the fixture?

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