Mh Ballast Has Gone... No Light!

[1entra]

Guys how long can corals survive without light? the ballast seems to have gone on MH unit yesterday so tank went without lights all day. I took the unit to an electrics store and they ordered me in a new ballast which didnt arrive today

so hopefully if all goes well the new ballast should arrive and be fitted by tommorrow. will corals and fish be ok?

and then there is the dreaded feeling... what if the ballast does not arrive tommorrow as expected??

 

[rabbut]

It really depends on what corals you have. Fish will be fine without light, but corals can suffer... Most softies and most LPS will go a week or so without, but SPS corals can be fast off the bat in starting to suffer...

 

[1entra]

Thanks for the quick reply rabbut, i have mainly softies with a few LPS but no SPS in the tank. I have just got my 11w fuge light and stuck it over the tank for the time being but its hardly done anything... just hope light unit gets sorted tommorrw...

 

[rabbut]

good luck getting it fixed. It may be worth picking up a GFI ro similar breaker. A lot of people are loosing halides ATM through surges courtesy of the lovely stormy weather ATM...

 

[SkiFletch]

IME, 2-3 days with no light is fine. Heck I had my tank with no light, and no heat for 3 days (flow only) early on in my reefkeeping career due to a massive power outage. Only coral I lost was the one I had added the day before and obviously wasn't yet settled... Tank got down in the 50's farenheight, so methinks your corals should be fine

 

[1entra]

Still no luck with getting it fixed mate, the guys at the shop got me a new ballast and have had a play with it, there is current going in but light still dont seem to be working which is stange and has got them all scratching their heads at it!!! just hope they manage to work things out soon...

 

[rabbut]

It there be current going into the ballast, and the ballast works, it can only be the connecting wires (either the connections or the wires themselves) or the lap holder/lamp causing your issues

Test the cables by using the diode testing function of a multi-meter with the current into the ballast turned off, between the ballast contact the the contact with the lamp, for each wire. You should get a reading similar to touching the two multi-meter probes to each other If you do, great, must be the lamp, otherwise there is a cabling or connection fault somewhere

HTH
Rabbut