What kind of MH Ballast and Bulbs??

overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
OK I am trying to decide between an Electronic or a Magnetic Ballast (250 watts) and what K of bulbs (leaning towards Iwasaki 6500K).
So just checking to see what people recommend or think I shoudl get ....
 
attml

attml

Active Member
I am a big fan of the 10K Ushios on a PFO standard ballast. After looking at a lot of tanks in person and a lot of tank websites I went with the Ushios because I haven't seen anything under them that didn't have good color and growth. The 6500w Iwaskis have superior growth but IMO don't consistantly color up the corals very well (there are exceptions). The 20k Radiums IMO produce the most vibrant corals but need replaced every 6 months and they are slow growers. These factors made me decide to go middle of the road with the 10K Ushios and URI VHO super actenics where I get good growth and color out of my corals!
 
bigmac

bigmac

Member
The 250 watt saki works best on the standard MH ballast. Even thos its a MV bulb it still works best on the Magnetic Ballast. This isn't the case for the 400 watter's (the burn better on the MV ballast)
Even thos this bulb (250) burns whiter and brighter on the MH ballest its still on the yellow side.
It's a great bulb but I wouldn't burn it without acinics
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Hi overanalyzer,
I won't recommend lighting - I haven't used enough different types to really know much difference.
I've used PC - didn't care that much for it.
Now - with help from others here ( immediately above my reply here ;) ) I am running over my 75 reef
(2) 250 watt 10,000k Ushio's with Dual 250 watt PFO HQI ballast.
(4) 110 watt URI VHO - two actinics/two daylight with PFO as well.
Not all lighting is always on at the same time.
They stagger throughout the day with multiple timers.
I like it a lot better now.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member

Originally posted by broomer5
Hi overanalyzer,
I won't recommend lighting - I haven't used enough different types to really know much difference.
I've used PC - didn't care that much for it.
Now - with help from others here ( immediately above my reply here ;) ) I am running over my 75 reef
(2) 250 watt 10,000k Ushio's with Dual 250 watt PFO HQI ballast.
(4) 110 watt URI VHO - two actinics/two daylight with PFO as well.
Not all lighting is always on at the same time.
They stagger throughout the day with multiple timers.
I like it a lot better now.
So what I think I am hearing from this last two posts as well as through out that a MH combo of a magnetic ballast and 10K Ushio bulbs with supplemntal lighting would work the best ...
 
jeo

jeo

Member
I also run 2 10k 250 watt Ushio MHs on a magnetic ballast with 2 55 watt PCs for supplemental lighting. I have loved the color of this combination (20,000 k is too blue for me) and have had good growth as well.
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
I decided to go with electronic ballast for my new 250 watt MH setup. I went with a 10k Ushio bulb and pc's for actinic (I already had the pc's but I will upgrade to VHO if I don't like the way they look). The electronic ballast was not that much more money and it seems to be a better ballast and you can run HQI or mogul if you want to.
 
attml

attml

Active Member
Broomer,
What happened to the link for your website? I wanted to see some pics with the new lighting. Also, I used to send folks with fuge questions to your site to check out your fuge!
 
jarvis

jarvis

Member
Definately magnetic ballast. My first choice is Iwasaki 6500s with some very heavy true actinic VHO suplements. Or 10k Ushios with some light actinic suplements. If your in pretty good a petstore that does maitanenence see if you can tag along to check out some diffrent light setups.
 
krux

krux

Member
i run ushio 10k bulbs on a pfo ballast and 2 uri actinic whites.
if you want i can probably dig up my pics that show 6500k 10k and 20k bulbs over the same tank for color comparison. or do a search for "bulb comparison pics" (no ") and you should get the old thread.
 
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