need help w/ Advance transformer ballast

[fas917]

Hi,

I am new to MH lighting and bought a used fixture. It came with a heavy ballast. I just want to know what kind of lights I can use. Also is it a good ballast. I see ppl talk about ice caps. Is advance transformer ballast good or should I change it? I am planing to keep mixed reef on 120g tank. thanks.

[AZDesertRat]

Advance magnetic ballasts are in probably 75% of every lighting fixture you see every day at work of in commercial establishments.
They are pretty rugged, thats why they are so heavy. I used Advanced until I switched from 175w to 250w MH.

[fas917]

AZDesertRat : what is the pros and cons of Advance magnetic ballasts. Can I use any 250w light bulbs on them? The reason I am asking all this question is that I am upgrading to 120g and would like to have a good lighting system. Thanks.

[daveisrael]

Advance magnetic ballasts are extremely reliable but you are limited as to what brands and types of bulbs you can run with them. Mostly just American bulbs, but some other european lamps will work on them as well (a lot of people report start up problems though). Wether or not it will run a 250 watt bulb will depend on what type of ballast you have. If it says "M-57" it will run a 175 SE watt bulb, "M-58" is a 250 watt SE bulb and "M-59" will run a SE 400 watt bulb.

As a side note, if your looking for a bulb to run on it, I believe that XM brand bulbs were designed to run off these types of ballasts. I run two XM 175 watt lamps on Advance ballasts and have never had any problems (with the ballasts that is).

[thrlride]

We really need to know the number of the ballast to offer you advice for what it can run.

I had two m58 advance ballasts with no problems. I now run a pair of m80 HQI advance ballasts.