Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - modding 150W aqualight pro to 250W

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- - modding 150W aqualight pro to 250W (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=37233)

modding 150W aqualight pro to 250W

My MH bulb will have to be replaced in about 6-8 months or so from now and I'm thinking of stepping up my aqualight pro from 150W to 250W. Doing some research so I can create a proper $$ budget for the upgrade. I know I would have to get new bulb clips and a new ballast but the process of the modification seems a little daunting because I would have to cut into the reflector to allow for the larger bulb.

Anyone out there who's done this modification? Would I be better off to sell the fixture and get a new 250W light when the time comes to replace the bulb? I'm also considering cost. If I can modify the fixture I save $100-170, plus I still have actinic supplementation. Don't know how much $$ I'd get for the fixture with bulbs that need replacing.

I've thought about trying this upgrade as well.

Another upgrade you might be interested in is replacing the 22 inch pc's with 36 inch T5's. I asked this question about it a couple of months ago

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=33260

but life got busy and I haven't gotten around to trying it.

Let us know how you make out!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwirky (Post 283113)

I upgraded my middle 150 to 250W. Got the e ballast and clips from Hellolights for 90/10 bucks. Follow this thread once you've opened it up to make some sense of it:http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=31318good luck.chin

cool thread. I'm doing the same thing. J&L can get the proper ballasts at a good price, and stock the sockets. It doesn't look like a tough job. I hope...

I bought this:
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=166

and this:

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp...rodID=462&HS=1

The rest is piece of cake.

The hardest part is deciding whether to cut up the MH plugs between ballast and fixture. The ballast doesn't fit inside the ballast box so I used another ballast box. But I removed that nifty three prong plug from the original ballast box and installed it into the new ballast box so I didn't have to cut any MH wires coming from the fixture.
My best advice is to open up your fixture, look at how the lights are wired to the ignitor, and how the same wires are connected to the fans. Then read the above thread and it will all make sense (assuming you know the difference between neutral, hot, and ground)

I thought that hellolights no longer shipped to Canada... did you have any difficulty there?

i pick all my stuff up in the US. either in blaine or point roberts... i guess that would be difficult for you Matt.

The Coralife ballasts from J&L weren't much more than that, so I'll just order those. More "plug & play" than the others

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okguy (Post 283161)

Another upgrade you might be interested in is replacing the 22 inch pc's with 36 inch T5's. I asked this question about it a couple of months ago

The fixture's 24" (24" tank too) so it'd be 24" T5's.

That's the easiest I think and only like $120 for a retro kit (plus bulbs). The light spread wouldn't be even but it'd give intense light at the back (higher) area of the tank for high demand corals, and it'd help give a little more punch at the lower regions of the front too.

It could also allow me to swap the 14K bulb for a high PAR 10K and have some real intense blue actinics to help with the yellow light.

What's the difference in PAR between an aquablue and a super-actinic T5 bulb? I could keep with a 14k 150W MH and get 13k T5 bulbs. Nice par from the T5's then.

Aquablue is a 11k bulb, lots of PAR. Super Actinic has a very narrow spectrum, almost zero PAR.