Quote:
Originally posted by kevin gu3
I have a 400w MH on a magnetic Hamilton ballast. Plugging the ballast into my Kill a Watt, it reads 400w dead on. I don't know what other ballasts do but this one draws 400w to drive a 400w bulb.
The statement 500w is 500w is correct, the bill is the same and the real question is how much usable light you get from the 500w. Last I heard flourescents and MH were equally efficient. That means both dump equals amount of heat. If the ballast is remote its heat doesn't go into the tank, generally a good thing.
Last I heard MH with a good reflector has an edge over flourescents with a good reflector because the bulb is smaller and doesn't block as much of the reflected light that was emitted in the wrong direction.
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I agree with most of that, but I think the choice is between higher watt MHs and lower watt T5s which enable you to keep mostly the same stuff in your tank. Obviously there's a lot of variables and I'm not starting a T5vsMH thread, but each has it's own purpose.
Personally I can keep most if not all that I wish to in my tank with T5s I believe but have lower heat output. In the summer, I don't want to be running a chiller on the tank as well as additional home air conditioning which I would have to do if I went for a MH system.