It's annoying... could it be more? RF fluorescent/MH noise issue, Outer Orbit   2/3/08
Hi,
I have an 48" Outer Orbit. When the fluorescent lamps come on, they make the kick on noise, then about a minute later they go silent, then about 30 seconds later it makes the kick on noise again, repeat, repeat, repeat,.... The lights stay on the whole time, and the metal halide lights do not present the same problem. Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Emily
<Mmmm, I'd be contacting the maker re... or whomever you bought this fixture from... it likely has repair issues. Bob Fenner>

Metal Halide Burn In Period??? 12/18/06
Hi, your web site has been a great help over the last couple of years.  But, know I think I finally have a question, that I cannot find on your site.
I recently upgraded from a 55 gallon reef to a 120 AGA.  With the upgrade, I also decided to switch over the metal halides, since I want to eventually get into acros.  I have 2x250watt MH with electronic ballast and also 2x96 powercompact actinic.  This whole system is new to me, I just received it last week.  To my disappointment, the unit only came with one 10k double ended HQI bulb.
<Whoa, whoa.  You say you have a 250 watt dual MH system, then you say it came with a HQI bulb.  Both of these systems are completely
different.  I'm guessing you have a HQI system.>
This bulb works in both units with each separate ballast, so I know the system is capable of working.  Since I only had one bulb, I thought I might as well upgrade to two Hamilton Tech 14K 250 watt.
After installing these bulbs, nothing has happened.  No light whatsoever.  I even placed the original 10k bulbs to make sure the unit was still working.
<And it does?>
Now the new bulbs have been in for about 30 hours without nothing.  I was told by one supplier that this was a normal initial burn in period and since the bulbs were different it might take 24-48 hours.  Is this true, I thought during the burn in period, the lights still came on.
<What mental institution is this supplier located at?  There is no such thing as a burn-in period.  As you say, the bulbs should light, period.
I'm guessing the lamps you purchased were defective.  Did this unit come as a complete kit, or is it a complete fixture?  Very unusual in that they would only send one lamp with a two lamp system.>
Please  help, I am completely lost with what to do next.
<Send me a link to this site if you bought them on-line.>
Thanks
<You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)>
Greg

Re: Metal Halide Burn In Period??? 12/19/06
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=307
Thanks for replying so fast.
<You're welcome.>
here <Here is> the link for the lights i <I> bought.  the <The> light system works with the bulb that they sent currently.  when i <When I> say they only sent on <one> bulb, they actually left on <one> out of the system - i <I> assume by mistake.  i <I> hope this helps answer the question regarding why this supposedly electronic ballast will not light up the hamilton <Hamilton> 14k.
<The ballast should light the Hamilton lamp.  I'd make sure there is no protective tape on the contact pins of the lamp.  If not, I'd be sending the
lamps back to the dealer.  In future queries, please cap words that begin a sentence and proper nouns, it saves me time from having to do it before
they are posted on the dailies.>
thanks <Thanks> again.
<You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)>

Lighting/MH Bulb Problem   5/9/06
Hello,
I have a 75 gal. LR tank (24" deep) with a ritteri Anenome and 4 Clarki clowns.  My suspended MH bulb is mysteriously shutting off then restarting every 5 minutes or so.  I've had the bulb for ~ 6 months.  I know you recommend 10,000K spectrum.  I'm going to buy a new bulb tomorrow, any specific brand you would recommend?  This ballast requires a screw-in type, 250 watt bulb.  I was using an Iwasaki Clean-Ace 250W, 18,000 lumen, 6500 K, and was going to look for a 250 W, 10,000 K.
IYO, is this likely a bulb issue, vs. a ballast issue? (I know you're not electricians, just thought you might have experienced this with your own MH lights).  I assume if the ballast was failing the light would not come on at all, do you agree?  <I happen to be an electrician Kevin.  If you have a standard (non-electronic) ballast the problem is generally with the bulb itself.  An electronic ballast could be causing this problem as most have a current sensing device built in and will trip when excessive current is detected.  A defective current sensor could trip prematurely.>  I've always changed my MH bulbs while they were still functioning, so have never experienced this.  The light is on a timer, set for 12 hours.  Today, it kicked on, warmed up and got to it's natural spectrum (2-3 minutes), then dims and shuts off.  Then, ~ 5 minutes later, it kicks on and does the same, it's been doing this all evening.  Is this what MH's do when the bulb is failing?  <Yes, if it isn't a ballast related problem.> My poor Anenome is getting a workout, opening and closing.  It (Anenome) has always had the same 12 hour photoperiod.  I hope this brief light screw up doesn't stress him out too bad.
<Kevin, I'd just replace the bulb.  If it is the ballast, then you have a spare bulb.  I'd put my money on a defective bulb as the problem.>
Thank you very much,
<You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)>
-Kevin  

Metal halide slow warm up 7/12/06
Hey!!!
<<Hey what?!?!?  Sorry... couldn't resist!>>
I have a quick question regarding metal halides.  I just bought a metal halide fixture made by Current USA called the SunPod DE HQI.  This is my first metal halide fixture so I'm new to this.  My question is, is it normal for metal halides to take around 15-20 minutes for the lights to start up?
<<No.  Metal halides usually take a few minutes to reach peak intensity, but they should fire within seconds.>>
I don't know if the fixture I got is defective or is this just a characteristic of metal halides.  When I switch it on, the fans on the fixture do come on, but the lights don't until 15-20 or maybe even 30 minutes later.
<<I would contact the manufacturer for support, or if that is not possible, the vendor that sold you the fixture.  It is possible (however unlikely) that this is a characteristic of the system you bought.  If not, it should be replaced.  Best Regards.  AdamC.>

MH Not Lighting   7/28/06
Hey guys --
<And gals.>
Love your site...
now to the business....
We've been running a 75 gallon take for about 10 months now - we have a Coralife Aqualite elite lighting system with 2 175W Metal Halide bulbs on it along with the PCs - all of a sudden one of our metal halides started not lighting all the way - I figured since the bulb was about 8 months old, it might have died - so we went to our local store a picked up a new bulb - the new one does the same thing - the center gets semi-bright, but there is no output into the take... The other 175W bulb in the fixture is fine... any ideas as to what we can do to fix??
<Sounds like the ballast for that lamp is bad.  Igniter voltage more than likely too low.  Hopefully you have a one year warranty on the fixture.
James (Salty Dog)>
Thanks,
Brian

Re:  Metal Halide Not Lighting   7/28/06
Thanks for your prompt response --
<You're welcome.>
We did find out that the ballast is bad - never thought about a warranty - but we will def look into it - I think that our other solution is to just upgrade the ballasts to 250W -- is that something that is easy to do?? can one just buy new ballasts and then put 250W bulbs in the fixture??
<The 175 watt MH fixtures were designed to dissipate heat for two 175 watt ballasts, and, I don't believe 250 watt ballasts would fit into the fixture. I'd check with the manufacturer.>
Once again I want to tell you how much we appreciate your site, we are new to the hobby and got in very quickly - along with our 75g - we recently set up a 29g mini reef - which is doing amazing - just added two true Percs - While on this topic, I hope you don't mind if I as another question... On the 29g we are running another Coralife lighting system with 2 65W PC 50/50s -- we have about 60lbs of rock, some from our bigger tank to help spread the Coralline algae - the tank has cycled for about a month before we added the fish - so, now onto my question, we were wondering if you thought there was enough light in there to support a small anemone for the clowns, since they have appeared to have bonded already --
<A 29 gallon tank is too small for an anemone.  Water parameters can change too fast.>
if you take the total size of the tank, we have about 4.3 Watts/gallon -- if you take into account the displacement of the rock, the Watts/gallon are significantly higher,
<Rock displacement means nothing in regards to lighting.>
probably close to 6Watts/gallon - I appreciate your assistance and once again think your site is an amazing source of info, and we never would have gotten as far as we did in the hobby without it...
<Thank you for your kind comments.  James (Salty Dog)>
Thanks again,
Brian

MH lighting fire...!!! - 03/25/2006
Hello WWM Crew, <Hi Rori - Tim answering your question today!>
Tonight disaster struck!!! I love my fish tank and have been a reef tank hobbyist now for about 5 years, but tonight my fish tank SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!!! I do not know what to do??? My wife and I were sitting watching T.V. when all of a sudden we both smelt a plastic burning smell that got pretty strong. We started looking around the house because it smelled like something plastic was on fire!!! Then I walked into the fish room and the room was filled with smoke!!! It turned out one of my ballast to my Coral Life HQI's was smoking pretty badly. Now I'm not talking about a little smoke I'm talking there was a fire going on inside the case of the thing and smoke was pouring out of it, and it filled the room with black smoke. Now I am so scared thinking about what would of happened if I wouldn't have been home, my house could of burned down! Another thing I don't understand is I am very cautious when it comes to building something. I have these ballast bolted to my stand with a dedicated fan blowing right on them. Also I have a circuit protector that will shut everything off if anything goes wrong. Looks like none of this stuff helped out, I honestly think that if I was not home it would of started a fire, and it would of eventually turned into a electrical fire. I am debating now if this is worth the risk. I am so disappointed that I spent so much money on these Coral Life 150 Watt HQI's and they fail like this. I will be contacting them about this situation I have run into. In the mean time I have all the lights turned off in the tank due to I am scared the other two ballast are going to catch fire like this one did. So now my corals are in the dark for now??? Any advice what would you do in this situation??? Anxiously awaiting your helpful response on what I can do??? Thank You!!! P.S. I took the ballast apart and in the case where the actual round ballast is inside is all swollen looking and melted inside!!! <That is very concerning indeed! Do contact the company and include in your correspondence very detailed information on your current set up so that they may identify any problems with your arrangement. Also do a search through online forums - to my knowledge, this is not a common occurrence but there is of course the possibility of a bad batch of ballasts - in which case you may be saving many other aquarists from potential disaster! Try to find out exactly what caused this - and please do keep us informed so that we may warn others of this situation! In the meantime, you will need to take care of your livestock. Make sure that you do a number of considerable water changes - I am concerned that some of the smoke may have become dissolved in the aquarium water and can potentially cause significant harm. Your corals will need light or they will not survive for long - I would suggest, if you are presently unable to comfortably provide them with adequate lighting (your situation being completely understandable) then I would suggest contacting a fellow reef keeper or your LFS to see if either will hold your corals until you can rectify your lighting situation. The same applies to your fish, although clearly these are less dependant on light for their survival. Keep a close eye on your fish as the stress of this incident may cause disease outbreak. As I said, please keep us informed as to your findings! Thank you and wishing you the very best of luck!>

Metal Halide Troubles 5/16/05
Dear WWM crewperson, First let me express my gratitude for your continued dedication to informing uneducated primates like myself on how to better sustain life forms in small, water-filled glass box. 
<Thanks for the kind words! It really is our pleasure!>
I've been trying to get my DIY dual 175 watt Metal Halides working and thought I was successful until this week. The lights have been working fine for the last 3 months, but now that the bulbs have properly "burned in" they continuously cycle (turning on, slowly brightening until they get to a very intense level, flicker then turn off for about 10-15 minutes). I know this is tantamount to a mortal sin with DIY equipment, but I don't remember any brand names. The guy who sold me the ballast 2 years ago said it was 175 watt, so I purchased two 20000 Kelvin 175 watt lamps. I was thrilled when everything lit up and worked, but now I'm wishing I'd just spent the extra money. Is there any way to salvage this situation? Best Regards, James 
<It sounds like your ballast is mismatched to your lamps. Your ballast components should be labeled with an ANSI number, and if not you can search the internet for a table that will allow you to match the transformer and capacitor ratings to the ANSI number. Lamps are manufactured to work with certain ballasts. See here: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/jg/  for a great table of which lamps work with which ballasts. This table does not include info for pulse start or probe start lamps (which your 20K's might be). Be very careful working with these ballasts! Charged capacitors can deliver a dangerous shock! Best Regards. AdamC.>

Aging MH Ballasts? 5/26/04
Hi WWM gang! Again thanks for everything....
<Always a pleasure!>
I've searched the FAQs for relevant articles on MH ballasts/lamps, and couldn't find a discussion on a ballast's lifetime. The questions I have are: How long should a ballast last, do they fail gradually or just "kick the bucket", and if gradually what are the indicators.
<Ballasts do fail, but I have never heard of one that does so gradually... They just quit, or in the case of tar ballasts, sometimes burn up.>
I purchased a 175W 10,000K Venture from my LFS and replaced one lamp, and the bulb was dead in roughly 3 days. Haven't talked to the LFS about this yet but want to make sure I'm on the right track before I ask for a replacement. I'm hesitant to install another new lamp until I can assure myself the Ballast is not the culprit. TIA, Jeff Hamilton
<Hmmm... Could be a couple of things. Bad lamp, bad ballast, or the wrong lamp for the ballast. Try the lamp on a another ballast to be sure that the lamp does not work. Try your old lamp on your ballast to be sure that the ballast works. Every ballast should be marked (could be inside the enclosure) with an ANSII number. The ANSII number of the ballast must match the lamp. For example m57 indicates 175w Metal Halide. Find the number on the ballast and check it against a reference on the internet to be sure you are using the correct lamp. Hope this helps! Adam.>