Hey thanks guys, I'm trying to laugh about it and not dispair, kind of a character building thing I guess.
Tony, the MH was a 250 watt mogul bulb. It would be great if I could test the balast, have you got one of those? Also, if anyone has old 65watt PCs (4 pin) that I could use to test that balast that would sure be handy!
BTW, iron oxide will lower you ph from 8.6 to 7.9 in a real hurry.
I guess some good did come of this.