Electronic halide ballast

[BubbaPhish]

Any of you guys running these? I'm looking into adding 2-250 watt electronic ballast to the project in addition to the VHO's. Was wondering what your experiences have been with them both good and bad. There is about a $6 difference in the ARO and Ice Cap costs.

Kevin

[dvmsn]

If you look at this article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2004/review.htm You will see that, depending on the bulb you chose, an electronic ballast is either worse or minimully better than a magnetic ballast. When you consider that they are almost twice as much money as a standard magnetic ballast, I don't think you get a lot of bang for your buck.

[H2OLUVSME]

hopefully Chad will chime in on this (my memory is not all that good), but i seem to recall him saying something about going through two electronic ballasts before settling with magnetic. i believe he said hes not having trouble with the magnetic.

[chad508]

i did go thought three different electronic ballast before i stuck with the magnetics. from what i gathered they get real hot and go out real fast. im not sure if cooling them would help, but they never seemed to get that hot. the ones i had were hamiltons so i don't know if it was just ther maker are the style ballast themselves.

[phishguy78]

i have had betterexperence with magnetic ballest than with electronic also

[tomterreefic]

Kevin, can't comment on the magnetics, but I'm running 2- 175W ARO MH elec. ballasts. They run about 6 hours a day each and are only cooled by room air. I haven't had any problems so far (where's that murphy fellow?) I've also got a 250W Icecap that I used for about a month before deciding on the 175W ARO. I'm planning on using it for the 75, when I finally set it up.

[BubbaPhish]

Hmmmmmm,
Well electronic ballast are not supposed to get hot. That may be why they went out. My magnetic ones get REAL HOT to the touch. From what I have read the electronic ballast don't really loose that much PAR compared to magnetic ones. The Par readings are posted in the lighting forums. They compared several ballast Ice Cap, ARO, Coralvue and PFO HQI and PFO standard ballast. WHen compared ballast are on XM bulbs the e ballast loose around 50 PAR on average.
I am considering the Ice Cap to be honest. They have great customer support and service from what I have seen. Only problem I see with the Ice Caps is with XM 20k HQI bulbs, they don't work properly. I am planning on SE bulbs from XM, not sure of color though. I am anxious to see the new 15k bulb that is supposed to be released next month.
Kevin

[tomterreefic]

Kevin, I'm running the 175W XM 15K SE bulbs now. I bought them from HelloLights about a month and a half ago. They burn a crisp white leaning towards blue, no yellow. I'm also running 1-96W 50/50 PC and 1-96W Actinic PC with these bulbs. If I was outside, I could land aircraft with these lights.:lol:
I haven't noticed much if any color shift so far. Of course I see it everyday.

[BubbaPhish]

Thanks Tom,
I havn't seen alot of feedback on the 15k's yet as only the 175 watt version is available at the moment. I did get my VHO's yesterday though. It's an ARO 4L ballast in a 2 lamp configuration using 2-46.5" URI Super Actinics. I could probably go 10k but I'm not a fan of the yellow look and a little worried that the 20k might be a bit blue. I think the 15k would be a good comprimise between the 2 colors.

Kevin

[H2OLUVSME]

Kevin, another thing you could do is run a 50/50 or 10k VHO with a 20k. ive resorted to two actinic whites (50/50s) in lieu of two actinics. of course i still run two actinics and the 20ks, and mine is still pretty blue, but i like it that way :D

[will1021]

Tom,

I am looking at getting the 175w 15K XM lights from hello lights also. How are the corals looking under that bulb?

[bugshop]

Hi Kevin,
I plan on using 3 400w Mag. ballasts on my tank.
I can't afford icecap and wouldn't have them if I could.
They do have a good warranty and from what I hear you will be needing it.
I don't want to have to deal with having limited or no light while
I'm taking advantage of a nice warranty.
You can almost replace a Mag ballast for what shipping would cost to send your ballast back to icecap.

Just my .02
Timmy

[dvmsn]

I might upgrade to two actinic whites as well.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by dvmsn
I might upgrade to two actinic whites as well.

you should come see mine before you buy them. they have a pinkish hue to them. IMO, it looks good with the blue of the 20ks, but i could see some people not liking it.

[phishguy78]

hey dave i like the way landons looks also i would defently go see it before you buy

[tomterreefic]

Originally posted by will1021
Tom,

I am looking at getting the 175w 15K XM lights from hello lights also. How are the corals looking under that bulb?

I like how things look. It's really brightens the tank and sharpens the colors. There's absolutely no yellow in these. It's white leaning towards blue. 20K with Actinic is just too blue for me. But I really like the 15K so far. Given my experience with these, I would recommend them. I'll try to get some pics posted.