ballast life expectancy?

Serra

Serra

New member
I have a 36" Dual Satellite Compact fixture that I bought in Dec. 2004. I run the lights on one of my fresh water tanks about 8 hours a day. I had to replace 1 ballast and now the other is out. How long should these last?

Thanks- Sheryl
 
I've got the same questions on my outer orbit from current... it's a year and a half old and both the pc ballast went out at the same time.
 
I think it's a heat issue. The fixtures i have had with the ballast built in have all gone through ballast every year to year and a half. I have 2 ballast that are mounted away from the tank, that i have had for i think 5 years now and still going strong.
 
The 5 years is what I thought from my past experiences but mine were mounted away too. So some rethinking on lighting for this tank is in order...
 
Face hurt? That is lump my legless dog lol. He just sits and bangs his head in frustration because he ain't got a leg to hike and his bladder is bloated lol.
 
It is probably both a heat and quality issue. I had a ballast go out literally in weeks after getting it and so did the replacement the company sent me. When I tried to find one locally I was told more and more ballasts are coming out of China and aren't worth crap. BTW, if you do add MH's try "ballastwise.com" I got a 250w MH ballast for 50 bucks. After getting the socket and reflector and wires it still ran less than a hundred.
 
This is a freshwater tank...but I hate throwing good money after bad. If this is going to be a new ballast every year, I need to find a different solution.
 
Yeah, a MH would be a little much for a fw. If the ballast is in a canopy you could vent it or add fans to cool it off.
 
Well the fixture has a fan. It is a fairly expensive fixture and I just need to decide whether to dump it or keep throwing more money into it.

In other words...grrrrrr!
 
Actually, I would like to see more postings like this; just the facts ma'am. A collection of products and their performances, giving details of how it was used so that other's can judge if that is a good product for their use.

I bought this product from a LFS in good faith and paid what is to me a "good amount of money." I expect to get more than 1-2 years out of a ballast. I started this thread to find out if this is an unrealistic expectation or not.

If a record were kept of a product's performance I think we as hobbyist would have more power as consumers. As it is now, if it is for an aquarium they charge the heck out of us. What is up with that anyway?
 
If it's just FW, you could still use a MH and get it for $125. Not sure how much those compact ballast cost, but i'm sure it ain't cheap. These MH setups are good, just the bulbs aren't much good for a reef. For FW they would be fine, and would make for a really nice FW look i think. I am currently using this exact setup, with a 14k hamilton, and it works great. The company is great also. They replaced my last ballast under warranty, even though it was fried by a flood that was my fault.

http://www.insidesun.com/index.php?action=item&id=336&prevaction=category&previd=2&prevstart=0

They have rebuilt ballast in the sa kit for $85, but i think the new ballast is well worth the difference.
 
i meant as for lighting needs. I think a FW would really look nice with a cheap 10k MH to give it that natural sunlight apearance.
 
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