[Samper]

What's a good price for this ballast?

[Reefland]

I think they run around $159 new with a 6' wiring harness.

[Samper]

Hmmm that's the buy it now price on the auction I'm watching.

[Reefland]

Which would seem correct. Sometimes you can find online retailers selling them for slightly discounted prices. Additionally, if you can find someone selling one used, Icecap makes an excellent product that lasts a very long time and if you do encounter problems with a used one, they have outstanding customer service and will correct it for you quickly.

[Samper]

That's just what I need.
Is that model of icecap a decent one or are there some better?

[Reefland]

The Icecap 430 and 660 are the only VHO/PC/T-5 ballast that Icecap makes if I'm not mistaken. The only difference in the 2 are the bulbs they can fire and quantity of them. For instance, I think the 430 can only power 4-48" bulbs tops; you'll need to search around for the exacts though.

[jiggly75]

Originally Posted by Samper

What's a good price for this ballast?

I use the Icecap A4 ballsast. It's the same as the 660 without the heatsink and dimmer. I payed 109.00 for each of mine.

[Samper]

Do you wish you would have paid the extra for the gizmos and gadgets Jiggly?

[jiggly75]

Originally Posted by Samper

Do you wish you would have paid the extra for the gizmos and gadgets Jiggly?

No, there's really no reason for a heat sink if you place your ballast away from direct light. I really don't have a reason for the dimmer. I have my VHO's for super actnic lighting and MH for daylight. The A4's have been good ballast. Had one problem with one of them. I sent it back to Icecap, 5 days later I had back in working order for free!!! Icecap really stands behind there products. Which ever one you decide to get, you will be happy with it .

[Samper]

Alright thank you very much for the information.

For a 75 gallon Will I be able to get away with only one ballast.

I would like to have the super actinics also but I don't know how the ballast/lights all hook together and what does what. I'm reading but until I actually see it in front of me it's hard to put together.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Reefland

For instance, I think the 430 can only power 4-48" bulbs tops; you'll need to search around for the exacts though.

The 430 can only handle three 48" lamps: http://www.icecapinc.com/pdf/430.pdf

The 660 can handle four 48" lamps: http://www.icecapinc.com/pdf/660.pdf

[Samper]

Originally Posted by Ninong

The 430 can only handle three 48" lamps: http://www.icecapinc.com/pdf/430.pdf

The 660 can handle four 48" lamps: http://www.icecapinc.com/pdf/660.pdf

Thank you, this is what I don't understand. It has 440 watts total output. This means I could put two 48" 110 w super actinics on it and two 110w halide bulbs? Or am I going in the wrong direction here?

Off the subject but I got kicked out of an lfs today for telling the owner he was an idiot. This guy had 8 clams for sale for $100 a piece, He had no clue what kind they were nor did I but he had them under regular flourescent bulbs. They were not looking too happy and when I asked him why he does stuff like this and a few other problems I had with his shop, he told me to get out cause I was scaring off the customers. I wish there was a way to get the better business bureau involved in places like this. It's so sad.

[Reefland]

Yes, you can put 4 x 48" 100w bulbs on the 660 however they will all come on at once; the ballast don't allow for the bulbs to be separately controlled. People often use 2-430's; 1 for the actinic bulbs and 1 for the daylight bulbs.

[Samper]

Ok then I need to go with the 430s. I always turn the actinics on an hour before the 10ks and they stay on an hour after the 10ks go off.

[Reefland]

I believe that this is only for the viewers benefit. We have ran our reef for 2 years now without any actinics and have had no negative effects.

[Samper]

Do you have much corraline? Seems like in my case the actinics help the growth.

[Reefland]

Yeah, our coralline growth is really good. Rocks developed it quickly and it is now quickly covering our bottom and back and side glass panels.

[Samper]

Odd, my buddy is running ushio bulbs and he has absolutely no corraline anywhere that the light touches. When he had a pc with actinics everything was covered.

[Reefland]

Different species of coralline algae will grow in different lighting and water flow conditions. The coralline we have is bright pink; but we also have some sheeting growth forms that are brown.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

Thank you, this is what I don't understand. It has 440 watts total output. This means I could put two 48" 110 w super actinics on it and two 110w halide bulbs? Or am I going in the wrong direction here?

You cannot run any halide lamps on those ballasts. They are for fluorescent lamps only. Metal halides require different ballasts.

Off the subject but I got kicked out of an lfs today for telling the owner he was an idiot. This guy had 8 clams for sale for $100 a piece, He had no clue what kind they were nor did I but he had them under regular flourescent bulbs. They were not looking too happy and when I asked him why he does stuff like this and a few other problems I had with his shop, he told me to get out cause I was scaring off the customers. I wish there was a way to get the better business bureau involved in places like this. It's so sad.

So you asked him what they were and he said they were "just clams?" Usually they can answer that question because when they order them, they order them by species. Unless his distributor just sent them along unordered and told him he had to take them. That doesn't make sense though.

I think he probably knew what they were but didn't want to admit it because then you might question his price.

Many LFS house animals under inadequate lighting and if the animals sell fast enough, they usually survive. Most LFS have switched from normal output fluorescent to VHO fluorescent over their holding tanks but even those that have done that rarely run more than two lamps over each tank.

I usually don't bother to "argue" with them anymore. I simply roll my eyes and feign mock horror whenever they say something ridiculous to a customer. You have to be careful the customer doesn't see you or the owner might call the cops on you. Most of them do not have a highly refined sense of humor.