Worth reusing old Coralife MH setup?

dfguild · 11/19/2006, 12:08 PM

I tried asking this question on the DIY forum and got no replies, let me try here. I used to have a reef tank but took it down 10 years ago. I still have the lighting from that tank. It is a 48" Coralife metal hood (I'm pretty sure, it's up in the attic and it's hard to check). It has two 175w MH SE bulbs and two 40w NO actinics. I want to set up a new reef tank, but probably smaller. I'm probably going to go with a 29 or 30g. Is it worth taking apart this hood, building a new wooden hood and reusing the ballasts, sockets and fans? Can I run a single MH off the ballast? I've got a full wood shop, so building a new hood is simple enough, but I wondered if it makes sense to reuse the parts or should I just sell this old setup and start again?

What would you do?

Thanks,
Dave

11/19/2006, 12:08 PM	#1
dfguild Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Conway, MA Posts: 14	Worth reusing old Coralife MH setup? I tried asking this question on the DIY forum and got no replies, let me try here. I used to have a reef tank but took it down 10 years ago. I still have the lighting from that tank. It is a 48" Coralife metal hood (I'm pretty sure, it's up in the attic and it's hard to check). It has two 175w MH SE bulbs and two 40w NO actinics. I want to set up a new reef tank, but probably smaller. I'm probably going to go with a 29 or 30g. Is it worth taking apart this hood, building a new wooden hood and reusing the ballasts, sockets and fans? Can I run a single MH off the ballast? I've got a full wood shop, so building a new hood is simple enough, but I wondered if it makes sense to reuse the parts or should I just sell this old setup and start again? What would you do? Thanks, Dave