MH bulb vs ballast wattage

[m0nk]

Ok, so this is going to sound like a dumb question, but I just want to be sure....
My 180g tank current has a ton of lighting, a tad overkill, I think, and I want to scale it back a bit. Currently I have 4x 175w 10k MH bulbs powered by magnetic ballasts and 4x 160w VHO powered by Ice Cap ballasts. I was considering slowly swapping out the MH bulbs with 150w 14k bulbs but wasn't sure what affect this might have...
Will it be ok for the ballasts to be rated at 175w while driving 150w bulbs?
If I do it one bulb per month will it have any negative impact on my coral? (mixed reef, some SPS, LPS, zoas, mushrooms)
Thanks!
Alex
m0nk

 

[hurt]

Won't work. The ballast wattage and the bulb wattage have to be the same. Any reason why you don't want to get 175w 14K bulbs? Wanting DE bulbs instead of SE bulbs?

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Hurt
http:///forum/post/2669304
Won't work. The ballast wattage and the bulb wattage have to be the same.
Cool, good to know, thanks! Perhaps just swapping them for 14k will tone it down a bit anyway.

 

[hurt]

Yep, it will definitely tone it down going from 10K to 14K as far as overall brightness and PAR are concerned.