[YoHo]

First the setup.

A year and a half ago I had a 110Gal Fish mostly with Live rock tank lighted with 2 175watt 12,000K bulbs. Then I moved cross country. I disassembled the tank and left most of it out on my father's front porch. The Bulbs themselves were taken inside and stored. They had been used for about 3 months.

I now have a 29gallon reef I'm setting up and I'm thinking that one of those bulbs would be a great light for this size tank. It would essentially be free.

Here's the issue, my father left the ballasts out on the porch over the winter and they got soaked. There's rust on the outside and the descriptive stickers are gone.

Now then, my father is an electrical engineer and has a significant amount of expireance with home electrical wiring and is well aware of everything involved in what makes these ballasts tick alhough he has never delt with them directly and so is not an EXPERT. He claims that the ballasts will be fine.


What do you all think?



If they aren't fine, what is the best most cost effective replacement?



Finally, Homedepot sells a 175Watt MH flood lamp with a housing and the ballast included. It's $85 which isn't cheap, but not expensive either. The reflector isn't ideal, but It looks to me to be sufficent for what I need. what are the pros and cons of simply putting my 12000K bulbs in this?


Thanks for any thoughtful responses.

[dattack]

I believe that 175 W Flood lamp at Home Depot is a mercurcy vaport ballast.

If you want to DIY a kit, check some of the online stores. They make it cheaper than going to your local lighting store to put it all together.

http://www.hellolights.com/17methalretk.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/a_lt_mh_a...ry.asp?CartId=

[YoHo]

Well, if its a mercury Vapor ballast, its driving a Metal Halide bulb.