Metal Halide Ballasts, which one is which? Answers here:

[outprowllin]

Originally posted by electric130
no chiller. i have 3 fans in the back, bottom of the canopy. all 3 blow air in. there's vent holes in the top of the canopy. besides the vents, and fans, the canopy's sealed. so cool air comes in the back, goes across the water, cooling the tank,

Interesting, your the first person ive talked to that dosnt run a chiller with 250 watt mh's. i also have a chiller. (just in case). my current tank never goes over 82 degrees and usually hovers around 80. i have only 2- 96 watt vhos on this tank plus a 30 watt actininc......there is one 4-5 inch fan blowing into the hood...i keep my house air conditioned and rite around 73- 75 degrees but drop it to 70 degrees at night. hopefully i will not have to us the chiller much at all. although summer is coming here in florida. it around 80 degrees outside these days...(my apologies to all who living in the snow zones). anyhow i cant wait to set up this tank...i am going to place my presnt live stock in it and from there on out im going to fill in the rest of the reef with sps...i really like acros. so we will see what happens .should be up and running the week end after next. ...........jaime

[electric130]

Originally posted by superkato
really, where how?, i was thinking on getting the pfo that sell everywhere for abot 100,. i am pretty handy.but do not know about this stuff

i can get them locally for $45, but i remember seeing them on the internet for that price too. Hello lights has them for $51: http://www.hellolights.com/25unmagm58ba.html you'll pay $100 for a single PFO or $160 for a dual. either way, you'll save $50 or more. the ballasts are very easy to hook up. power cord, lamp cord and 4 wires. there's a schematic of a probe start ballast in my gallery. i could walk you through how to do it.

[Deuce67]

I got a question here. I recently bought 2 M81 raw ballast. Is there a reason why I couldnt wire these up in a series and have just one power cord instead of 2? Thanks for any info.

[electric130]

you can hook them in parallel, not series.

[Deuce67]

Thanks!

[ichthyojason]

I recently switched to MH, and decided I liked the Hamilton 14K color. I am at SE 250 W and the person at marinedepot told me I needed to go with the HQI ballast. Is this accurate, and if not would an electric ballast work? If so, Is there a significant difference in the energy usage of the two types. Also, are there any other bulbs that could work well with the HQI ballast? Thanks!

[electric130]

no you don't need an "HQI" ballast. they're full of crap. an electronic would work, but so would a $50 M58 ballast. your call. the only bulbs that are really meant for the HQI ballasts are DE's and the SE Radium. SE Ushio 250 will do well also.

[ichthyojason]

would the electronic use less energy too? Thanks!

[electric130]

how much do you pay per KWhr for electricity?

[ichthyojason]

I believe it is like .15 per kWHr on average

[electric130]

it will take approx. 6 years for you to repay the additional cost of the electronics over M58's in electrical savings. you'll save about $0.90 per month per ballast with electronics over M58's. you decide.

[ichthyojason]

Thanks - plus I am trying to figure in the added cost of replacing the bulbs more frequently too. Thanks for all the help - wish I would have talked to you first!

[electric130]

my father in law is at 15 months with 250w XM 10k's on M58 ballasts. he's planning to go to 18 months and see what happens.

[superkato]

hey electric,

looks like every day iget more confused. any way i was wondering if there is a difference between the EVC ballast and the PFO standard for SE 250 i am planning on xm 10k

does the pfo overide the se lamps

how many watts does it use the pfo and the EVC ballast?

thanks

[superkato]

should we really care about the PAR value

does it really affect the healthy or growth on corals

[superkato]

from the Cnidarianreef,
PFO Standard
Lamp PAR Watts MaxWatts Amps MaxAmp
Iwasaki 691 286 331 2.53 6.86
XM10K 600 268 269 2.47 3.39

when they talk about watts,are they saying how much my lamp consume or how much is consumed by tha ballast,
what is the output on the lamp anyway for the xm in this table?

what do they mean by the max watts , amp and max amp?

what should i look for to see if my lampis being overide or not?

thank you so much electric, you're really helping out here

[ichthyojason]

I'm sorry electric - but i just noticed in response to the costs you were showing the difference between the M58 and the electric - is there much of a difference between either of these and the HQI(or M80) - as that is what I am currently running?

[electric130]

since electronics cost about the same as HQI ballasts, the repayment issue is moot. the electrical savings are much more though. i'll have to calculate a rough number for you.

[superkato]

did i ask to many question at the time

[electric130]

Originally posted by superkato
hey electric,

looks like every day iget more confused. any way i was wondering if there is a difference between the EVC ballast and the PFO standard for SE 250 i am planning on xm 10k

does the pfo overide the se lamps

how many watts does it use the pfo and the EVC ballast?

thanks

EVC = electronic
PFO standard = magnetic
the PFO standard does not overdrive the SE's. M58 will cosume 270-280w and EVC will consume about 240-250 (assuming similar operation to IC and ARO ballasts)

[electric130]

Originally posted by superkato
should we really care about the PAR value

does it really affect the healthy or growth on corals

there are varying opinions, but most believe (myself included) that PAR is the most important factor for coral growth (photosynthetic corals of course)

[electric130]

Originally posted by superkato
from the Cnidarianreef,
PFO Standard
Lamp PAR Watts MaxWatts Amps MaxAmp
Iwasaki 691 286 331 2.53 6.86
XM10K 600 268 269 2.47 3.39

when they talk about watts,are they saying how much my lamp consume or how much is consumed by tha ballast,

watts is how much POWER is being consumed by the ballast

Originally posted by superkato
what is the output on the lamp anyway for the xm in this table?

it's not given in that table

Originally posted by superkato
what do they mean by the max watts , amp and max amp?

max watts is the max POWER that was recorded by the ballast (typically during startup surges), amp is the CURRENT consumed by the ballast. max amp is the max CURRENT consumed by the ballast (typically during startup surges)

Originally posted by superkato
what should i look for to see if my lampis being overide or not?

not sure what you're asking. what ballast do you have?

Originally posted by superkato
thank you so much electric, you're really helping out here

yw

[webpolk]

Excelent read here.

I have an advance 72C5782, which is the f-can 250 watt Mecury Vapor ballast. I run it with a 6500k Iwasaki bulb. As of today, the bulb will not completely fire up. It turns on, and you can hear the switching happening in the ballast and bulb, and you can see the pulsing part in the bulb. Not the actual bulb though. Looks like some kind of starter.

This Flicks on and off quickly, and then suddenly the bulb shuts-off and a different part of the bulb glows bright for a minute or so. After that everything is off, and no noises from bulb or ballast.

I have checked, and re-checked my wiring. What could cause this?

Would it be a bad bulb or a dead ballast?

I do not know anyone with a compatable ballast or bulb that I can test with.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

[electric130]

sounds like the ballast. got another bulb and ballast you could swap to troubleshoot?

[webpolk]

No, this is my first Metal Halide. I will try to see if I can find someone local over the next few days to help.

Thanks,
Steve