Odyssea 30in 380w w/ icecap mod

[iride350z]

I was thinking about getting the odyssea 30in which is 380watts, if i bought it i would want to do the icecap mod. My question is that icecap only offers a 250 and a 400watt ballast, would it be ok to run the 400 from icecap?

 

[iride350z]

My second option would be just to get the current sundial which is only t5's. I'd rather not be limited in what i could put into the tank later on...or should i just stick with the sundial?

 

[scsinet]

Metal halide ballasts must match the wattage of the lamp they are driving. I don't know what size metal halide lamp is in there that you are talking about, but you can't use a 400w ballast to drive, say, a 250w halide lamp.

 

[iride350z]

Sorry, i guess i was pretty tired last night and was not ale to read lol. the odyssea is a total of 380watts while the halide bulbs is only 250watts. So i could use the icecap 250 on it.

 

[scsinet]

yep!

Just out of curiosity... why replace a ballast on a brand new fixture?
The icecaps are efficient... but the efficiency makes sense when you are looking to purchase a ballast... not replace. When you are purchasing, you need to spend the money one way or another so you are really only looking at the price difference. When you are replacing, you need to make up the entire cost of the ballast... I doubt the efficiency will gain you enough to break on the cost anytime soon.
I don't know what size tank it's on, but if it's the 30", the most it could be is a 40 gallon, which the 250 will be more than enough for no matter what ballast you use.

 

[iride350z]

Well Ive read around and the stock ballasts seem to be possibly dangerous/not powerful enough. I figured since the unit could be had for $200 and the icecap ballast is like $130 that would still be way under the price of a more popular brand. Then later down the road i could replace the bulbs to have an all around good set up for cheaper. btw the way my tank is a 29gal 18'' tall. I wanted to go with a 250 so that whatever i decide to put in the tank i wont be limited by my light.