Diy Lighting Help

[robr28]

Hello everyone.
I have an old MH lighting system that I used to use on my 100 gallon tank. It has two 175 watt bulbs and two forty watt actinic tube bulbs. With two fans and 3 separate cords for timers. I now have a 37 gallon tall reef tank. It is being lit with 2 14 watt coralife HO and one 28 watt coralife HO. I want to use a combo of MH and actinic for my 37 gallon tank. So I took apart the MH put all the pieces aside and cut the lights housing to the right size for this tank. Put all the metal halide parts back in the housing and so far it looks like a mini version of its parent.

So that part is done. My question is the two ballast for the actinic the specs on them say {high power factor/input 120v ac 50/60hz/max current 1.82 amps/fcc part 18a/class p/type 1 or 2 outdoor. } The bulbs that fit into the old housing were 48'' long. Will these two ballast work with smaller tubes say 30'' long that would fit into the new housing? Or should I use the coralife lights with all actinic bulbs in them? And if I go with the coralife should I take the units apart? And will the coralife break if I try to disassemble them ? I'm very handy so DIY are not a problem for me. But I would like to pick some brains for ideas and some help. Also My tank is 23'' deep and 30 '' wide. I be leave I read some where that 175 watt MH were good lights for that depth of tank. And could be kept 5 to 15 inches above the tank. I may be wrong and I don't want to kill any of my tank buddies so If you think this will be to much light then let me know what you think. And before we all start talking about heat Yes I do know that MH's heat up the water.
Thanks again and any ideas will be appreciated.

[bertoni]

Corals vary in the amount of light they'll tolerate, and you'll need to acclimate your system to the brigher lighting in any case. You could raise the lighting or put some sort of grid to block some of the light.

The fluorescent ballast will fire the smaller bulbs, but will overdrive them. That might change the colors and shorten the bulb life, but it's otherwise safe. Personally, I wouldn't disassemble a unit due to a lack of electrical knowledge, but it might be okay.

[robr28]

I have a good knowledge of how electrical things work. I wasn't implying that I was going to put T5 bulbs in a T12 ballast. Sorry if you were confused. I was wondering if I could use or if they made 30'' T12 bulbs. Anyways I think I'll go with 24'' T12. I called the ballast manufacturer and they told me the ballast was rated for 3 40 watt bulbs. But the store I bought it from only had one 40 watt T12 per ballast. Also she told me the ballast was a very high output. So I'm not to familiar with T12 bulbs.Do they make them in VHO?Is 24'' the smallest under a 48'' or do they make a 30'' T12??
And the second thing I mentioned was about taking apart the coralife units. I wouldn't just shove the whole unit in the new lighting housing that would be silly. I would have to disassemble the coralifes and put the ballasts out side the lighting housing and mount just the the bulbs along the inside next to the MH. But I won't need to do that if the T12 works. I did know about adjusting the light lower over time so they can adjust from the T5 to the new MH. Thank you for your help in this matter.

[robr28]

Anyone?

[madreefer14]

Yes T 12's come in VHO though now with the advent of T5 lighting they are going the way of the buffalo but still have practical applications.

[bertoni]

I don't use any T12 setups, so I don't know about the bulb lengths that exist.