Halide Question About Ballasts And Ignitors

[ins@ne]

obviously the price of halides aint cheap and working were i do i'm able to call on the help of a few people and they have suggested that i would be able to build up some halides quite cheap sourcing various bits of the net etc etc the question being are these bits suitable at all

they have pointed out these as well as a friend off the net, but his is used in freshwater and using the 70w version

the ballast are as follows

656730 - HID90 150w HQI
150w HID90 Compact Tapped Ballast with thermal protection
Dimensions: 122mm x 66 x 51mm Weight: 1.90Kg Tapped: 230/240/250v

Recommended Capacitor: 20uf Ignitor: 640175


Rec' Trade Price £19.82
Order Online for: £14.85 (Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

and

656727 - HID90 150w HQI
150w HID90 Compact 230-240v Ballast with thermal protection for Metal Halide Lamps
Dimensions: 122mm x 66 x 51mm Weight: 1.90Kg

Capacitor required: 20uf Recommended Ignitor: 640175


Rec' Trade Price £19.00
Order Online for: £14.25 (Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

the ignitors are

640170 Ignitor
Fully encapsulated superimposed ignitor in plastic case for 35w, 50w and 70w(E27) SON and 70w and 150w single ended metal halide.
Dimensions: 89mm x 38 x 30mm (inc stud) Weight: 0.13Kg


Rec' Trade Price £10.22
Order Online for: £7.50 (Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

and

640175 Ignitor
Fully encapsulated superimposed ignitor in plastic case for 35w, 70w,100w and 150w single and double ended SON and metal halide lamps
Dimensions: 89mm x 38 x 30mm (inc stud) Weight: 0.13Kg


Rec' Trade Price £10.14
Order Online for: £7.60 (Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

i know i will still need to buy the bulbs and mounts etc etc and all that stuff but that can all be sorted easy enough thru work. just need to know basically if these will be suitable at all as i have read something some where about certain ballast not being useable etc.

thanks alot
mark

[ins@ne]

any one:confused:

[mygreengoldfish]

Thats way too confusing for me. I would just buy a cheap electronic ballast. They are more energy efficient, run cooler and run any bulb as long as the wattage is correct. They run around 100 bucks, don't know how that translates to your currency.

[tankslave]

or...
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=MH175DIY
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighting_metal_halide_accessories.asp?CartId=

Trust me, DIY and ballast do not go in the same sentence.

[tankslave]

Except there.
wow, i stuck my foot in my mouth.

I mean, don't build your own ballast. The link says DIY ballast, i know, but it is pretty much put together for you. Don't like try to get parts off the shelf and put a ballast together. Its not a flourescent bulb, it won't work.

The magnetic ballast will work, but just get it from someone who is actually selling them for that purpose. It is WAY too much work to match components to bulbs to ignitors. It won't work, and you'll just end up wasting your money. DIY skimmers are one thing, that is something that can really work well with a DIY job. Ballasts are not.

[tankslave]

oh, and don't get a bulb that is less than 10,000K. Anything less than that is much too yellow and just looks like a regular incandescent lamp. not too pleasing to most people.