Halides the cheeper way
 

Well after reading up on many post, I found the key to a good aquarium is the metal halide lights. Now me being a cheap bugger couldnt see paying the price for everything in a pet store. Transformer $275, shield , socket and cover $185, bulb $180. Now these arent the prices you get at JandL. These are stores in Victoria area.
So I bought a transformer(ballast/starter) at the local lighting store for 80 bucks, hyr\droponic shop and bought a light socket and cord(1 inch and a 1/2) 15 bucks, built with sheet metal a reflector and a metal box. All metal came from the recycling depot and cost about 10 bucks. Yup so now i need the bulb. J and L got my business cause they are the best priced and will take the time to talk to you. 150 bucks. Total cost for store bought 640 bones plus tax, homemade jobby-255 bones. savings of 385 bucks.
Pretty proud of myself for this one :biggrin:

That sound exactly what I have done. I am having trouble with the ballasts I bought however. Found them noisey and vibrated a lot. I was asking about that in a thread only a couple days ago. Once I solve that, all is good.

Good to hear your brave enough to do your own wiring. Its really not as hard as people think.

Agreed, when I got into this hobby I thought I wouldn't be able to do halides. But after I realized I had to have them, and talking to a few locals, I realized it can be done for cheaper than one might think. Even getting all the seperate parts from an LFS (like I did) is a significant savings over buying a canopy, which is what I was going to do. Having someone send me a free Ushio and two moguls was kinda handy as well. :razz:

As long as you can match the ballast to the type of bulb you want to run, there isn't aproblem doing it like this. What wattage are you running. I have a bare ballast (400w) I could have sold you for $25.

250 watt

i went and got a ballast from a hydroponic and a 10000k 250 w
bulb from jl aquatics and it worked awsome thought its about time to get a new bulb its been 9 months and its getting a bit yellow!
hillside aquatics sells the same ballasts as the hydroponic stores! :exclaim:

Where do you think they get them from?? :razz:

i think she probably gets them from a hydroponic wholesaler and slaps a sticker on them saying there for aquariums.... she charges a lot for them too and her metal halid bulbs are from j and l she just ups them
a 250w 10000k is 250 from her.... 169 from j and l
:exclaim:

True enough, there are good deals to be had!

For those a little scared of wiring, there are some good deals to be had on ebay. I purchased reflector, dual 250w PFO Ballast (NIB), quick disconnects, sockets, etc for $185 USD, add to that 2x250w 10k venture bulbs for $51 USD ea. With fans, shipping, wood, etc. I was able to build my entire canopy and set up for around $550 cdn, not as much of a savings, but better than the alternative and not as scary for silly people like me!

Best,

Rob