aqua medic ballast

[laszlo]

Does anyone know what ballasts Aqua Medic uses on their MH/T5 fixtures? I'm looking into the 48" 2-250watt fixture. I'm curious as to why they are so much cheaper than the Maristar fixtures.

[alljap]

Maristar fixtures use remoted sunlight suplly ballasts. Aquamedic builds those magnetic ballast inside the fixtures ( so much heavier).

[laszlo]

The description for Aqua Medics new MH/T5 fixtures says they put the ballast in a remote fan cooled ballast box. I realize that they more than likely magnetic ballasts, but of what manufacturer?

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...es.asp?CartId=

[David Grigor]

I consider the aquaspacelight to be very good quality. Been around for quite some time now. I used one myself for a while ( with the ballast built into the fixture ).

I wouldn't really be concerned with it......

[RustySnail]

The balast inside of the AB (150w) fixture is a german brand; with a 220 to 110v transformer. The new (smaller) AB fixtures are running e-ballasts.

[laszlo]

So is AB supposed to be refering to Aqua Medic? The fixture i'm talking about is the 2x250 HQI - 2x54 watt T5.

[RustySnail]

Yep; AB (Aqualine Buschke) and Aqua Medic are the same company. I can't tell you for sure on the 250-HQI ballast they sell; it might be the magnetic ballast to get a true "HQI" rating. If you use an AB HQI rated ballast I would think that this will limit your choices of lamps to the German mfr's because American lamps are not made to the HQI spec; lamp longevity of an American DE bulb will probably be reduced on an HQI ballast.

[Fliger]

The ballast in their 250W DE set-ups are actually 290W magnetic ballasts. They will properly drive DE bulbs, and overdrive most mogul bulbs except German ones - which although they are 250W, are tuned to run optimally at 290W (HQI). This is the way I understand it, I'm about 99%. Over the years I think I've owned over a dozen Aqua Medic 250W ballasts. ;-) As RustySnail said, it will shorten the life of some bulbs. It's important to get the right ballasts for the right bulbs - check out JBNY's 250W tests.

[myakkareef]

laszlo- I have the 36" version of this light...Great light, One thing I will warn you about are the 250w ballast themselves do emit a humm, very noticable humm....The box seems fine and the fan seems quite just the ballast hummssss......Luckily mine are not in the same room as the tank, actually outside so the humm does not effect me.....

[chtan]

The normal MH ballast are from ABB germany .or Europe .. do not buy the china made ballast fm ABB or ABBs from other parts ... they cannot fire the MH lights properly.

[reefkeeper2]

So what is the difference between this fixture and the maristar made by sunlight supply? Other than the price of course.