On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 10:00:17 -0500, "Harry Muscle"
wrote:

If your goal is to control which lamp is on via a switch, it's going to
prove a lot more difficult that it looks at first. I looked into such a
design a little while back. The biggest problem with using a switch to turn
the bulbs on or off is that there is sometimes almost 600V between the
ballast and the bulbs (sometimes even more, upwards of 1300V, depending on
the ballast) Finding a switch or relay rated for that can prove expensive,
usually more than simply getting another ballast (ie: having two ballasts
for two bulbs).

Your right... The reason I haven't replied to this thread for a while
was that I was doing some research, and the switch issue you mention
was exactly the item that stopped me in my tracks.

So, I took the ballast out of the hood, mounted it in my garage, and I
now have a nice new light.

I picked up one of those Hagen Glomat 2 thingies, and now I can run my
25w T-8 marine glow lap, or my T-12 30w GE cool white lamp, or both -
all I have to do is yank off an end cap. As a bonus, my hood is now
5lbs lighter, and 10x cooler than it was before. All for $40.

I'm happy, my fish look great, and no one got electrocuted!