PFO Retro fits

[tanksalot]

I was looking into metal halide retro fit kits, I am pretty sure I want to go with a PFO ballast. What I was wondering was is this kit ok?
I have a standard 90 gal tank (48x24x18)
PFO 250watt Dual 65K Metal Halide Retro Kit
Sorry i cant get the picture on here.
Basically it comes with everything ready to set up.
Reflector, bulbs, cords, ready to plug in and go.
Or should I just by the ballast, reflector, and so on separate and go with a 10K bulb?
When the system is complete I will have 2 250W MH with 2 VHO (One in front and one on the back side)
Will the 65K bulb be ok for the first year? And when its time to change the 65K bulb go to a 10K bulb.
Did any of that make sense?
Thanks in advance,

 

[rane]

I would go with the 10k bulb from the begining, just my 0.2

 

[chris l]

I use a 10k AB bulb for my 250w PFO HQI and a 12k for my 175w (but will be switching to 10k with the 175w) along with 150w of vho and I love the looks. The 10k is a nice bright white.

 

[tanksalot]

Thanks for the replys, Ill go with the 10K bulbs. I am just learning about metal halides so i got a dumb question for Chris L. You said you use a 10K AB bulb. What is an AB bulb, is it just a name brand?

 

[chris l]

Yes it a brand name, Aqualine Boushe (sp).

 

[richard rendos]

Aqualine Bushke.

 

[chris l]

Thanks for the correct spelling Richard!!

 

[rhomer]

Got the same retro kit, a couple of comments. The flat refluctor sucks, you might as well investigate getting either a spider, or reef optix 2. The number of bulbs that you can use with this ballast is fairly limited. You might want to investigate a pulse start ballast instead of a probe start ballast.
Thats the things that I've noticed.
Rob