400 watt MH Ballast

[2021]

I have a 400 watt metal halide ballast that a friend gave me, it looks to be brand new. It is a Magnetek 400 watt - part # M400MLTAC4M. It says to use a M-59 or H-33 bulb.

I don't know really anything about MH, My question is that will this work for aquarium light? or is this something totally different?

I think it is too big for my 55 tall, but it might be somthing I can trade down for a 250 set up. Any help would be great.

Thanks Daniel

[LoneStar]

look anything like this?



http://www.accessdiscounts.us/sku-26125.html

If so, its likely a magnetic ballast. It should fire a 400w metal halide bulb. Does it have a mogul socket attached to it? Or is it just 2 wires coming out? Photos of what you got would help too

As for the aquarium end of the deal, it may not be the most efficient or pretty ballast, but if it fires a bulb, it'll work. Most of the nicer ones in the hobby are electronic ballasts (more efficient than magnetic ones) and come in cases to disperse heat. A 55g tank is pretty long (4ft) so a single 400 would not cover the whole distance. Plus it may be too much light for a tank that size. A 250w or (2) 175w would work perfect for it! I did a single 250w metal halide on my old 55g and it worked out well. Some of the sides were a little darker, but it worked well for low light corals.

[2021]

That is what it looks like. Although I olny have the ballast.

So this ballast isn't much help to me?

Also it has just the wires coming out.

[LoneStar]

Well you can buy a mogul socket and wire it to the ballast. Then you should be able to run 400w mogul based metal halide bulbs.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...s~vendor~.html

If your a little iffy whether or not it will fire a bulb, you can find a used 400w mogul based bulb on here or online. That would save you some money just incase the ballast is no good.