Metal Halide Changing Colors

aviator

aviator

Member
hello all,
I've got a 400 Watt Metal Halide setup with a single bulb 10K bulb.
When I initially fire the lights up in the morning, the light warms up and emits a nice bright white light, just what I wanted. Over the course of the day, the light tends to take on a greenish tint and occasionally changes back to the nice bright white.
Is this the result of a cheap bulb? I will admit I tried to save some money and bought two ---- bulbs (one for spare) or does this seem to be something to do with the ballast?
Any help is appreciated!
 
nissan577

nissan577

Active Member
i would think the bulbs. maybe since they are from e-bay they change color. if you have another set of bulbs that are a good brand put them and compare
 
aviator

aviator

Member
Unfortunatley, I don't. With them being so expensive, I want to make sure that's what the problem is before investing money into the bulbs. If it's the ballast causing the problem, I'm gonna have to replace it instead.
 
nissan577

nissan577

Active Member
lets see what other reefers say here. to me its the bulb. idk lets see
sorry i couldnt help that much.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
It's almost certainly the lamp.
An easy way to tell since it's 400w... if the lamp is a mogul based lamp and your reflector can accomodate a physically larger lamp, go to Lowes or the Depot and buy one of their 400w halide lamps for like $20. Pop it in and run it for a day. It'll make your tank look horrible but if the problem you describe is the ballast, it'll show up.
If your ballast is magnetic, then the chances of it being the lamp are... about certain. Magnetic ballasts generally only have three failure modes that manifest in lamp performance issues. Either the lamp will not kick on at all, will cycle on and off, or will be consistently dim.
Do you have access to a clamp on ammeter?
 
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