Ballasts

[scjohnsons]

I'm looking to upgrade the lighting in my tank (90 GL)and redo my entire hood. I presently have 2 175W Ice Cap ballasts w/ Ushio 10000K bulbs. There's also 2 4' NO Actinics. However, one of my ballasts is shot in my MH and so I am thinking of upgrading the whole system. I'm looking for your suggestions.

Also, can someone give me the low down on ballasts and the pros and cons of operating different ballasts. If you were doing it all over again, what would you recommend for ballasts, lighting systems and bulbs. I understand that a lot of this is preference, but I would like to hear what others feel. I'd appreciate your feedback on this.

BALLAST TYPES
TAR
PS
HQI
EL
IC
EYE
EL

[Invigor]

go with either HQI ballasts (for performance) or icecap electronic ballasts again.

if you don't want to spend the extra money for HQI, pulse start would be the next best.

BALLAST TYPES
TAR - old coil/core ballasts, poor performance, high power useage, hard on bulbs because of their firing style
PS - same as above, but with an ignitor to help the bulb start, much easier on the bulb causing better life and longer color from the bulb. improved performance too over regular tar
HQI - beefy version of the pulse start..much higher performance with similar power consumption to regular pulse start ballasts. this ballast will fire -all- bulbs.
EL - electronic. economic, not performance. fires most bulbs
IC - ice cap, electronic. you already know
EYE - ballast designed specifically for iwasaki 6500k bulbs. useless to anything else.

[sphelps]

Don't mean to butt in but some of that information is not that accurate.

TAR
Your standard ballast, it is made for running domestic bulbs. Domestic bulbs have an igniter built into the bulb, therefore needs a ballast without an igniter. This ballast will run most other European bulbs as well but will take longer to ignite bulbs as these European bulbs do not have igniters built into the bulbs, this will also be hard on those bulbs and the shorten the life span. This ballast is not old and inefficient, it’s simply a magnetic style ballast designed specifically for domestic bulbs, for example a 400W TAR ballast will use close to 420-430W of actual power. This ballast will only be hard on non-domestic bulbs (without igniters).

PS
Pulse Start, this ballast has a built in igniter and is made for the European bulbs without igniters built into the bulbs. This ballast will fire other bulbs, however it is not recommended, if you have two igniters they may interfere and could be a fire hazard. Only use this ballast with European bulbs without igniters.


HQI
The HQI, is misunderstood by many, this ballast should only be used on doubled ended bulbs as they can handle the extra power. Sure these ballasts will make your SE bulbs brighter but it’s at the cost of using more power, for example a 400W HQI ballast will put out close to 500W of power, so it’s not anymore efficient, most of the time it’s less efficient. Plus this will overload SE bulbs and dramatically shorten there life span.


EL
Electronic ballasts are probably the best all around ballast; they will work with almost every bulb, including double ended and Single Ended. They are the most efficient and usually use the rated Wattage, for example a 400W EL ballast will use about 400W +/- 10W of actual power. However these ballasts are pretty expensive and it’s hard to justify the extra cost, but if you want a ballast that will allow to switch from SE to DE, it’s really your only choice.

IC
Same as EL


EYE
These Ballasts should only be used on iwasaki bulbs, as Invigor stated. The reason being these bulbs are not actually Metal Halide but Mercury Vapor and therefore require a different ballast (EYE).

In conclusion: I believe we discussed your lighting before and decided on a dual 250W for best results. I recommend you go with a dual 250W TAR ballast with dual 250W SE XM 10000K bulbs. This combo will give you the best PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) rating per watt and still deliver an actual Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of over 10000K. Not only that but it will cost less that just about any other combination.

[sphelps]

If you want some advice on reflectors, tell me your tank dimesions, and how high you want to hang your halides.

[Invigor]

cool, xm 10000ks do have great CCT 12000ish and high PPFD (137). super nice ppfd (182) with a HQI ballast though, although compromising 3000 degrees kelvin.

difference between m80 and m58 is only .4 amps and gain 42 ppfd units. efficiency still favors the m80 at .48 vs .43

xm probe start bulbs are not enough to separate me from my ballasts. the reasons I chose HQI ballasts over tar/pulse/electronic is the ability to fire -any- bulb I want, and so I would never have to upgrade ballasts again.

the price difference of a probe start and an hqi ballast is less than replacing a probe start ballast with an hqi down the road when I decide I like a lamp that isn't probe start.

However, I agree with sphelps -- the 10000k XM bulb + m58 ballast combo sounds like an awesome setup for cheap! (132.05+80.50) I'm very impressed :yourock:

[Invigor]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=20798

cheap HQI ballasts ;)

[scotchy]

So the Sylvania M80 ballast will run SE and DE bulbs? Any brand 250 watt? Is this a ballast that Ecol Electric would carry. Reason I'm asking is sometime after Christmas I beleive I am going to add another 250 halide to my tank as well. If I could DIY a set-up for less than buying another Coralvu unit I would probably take that route. Reef-perfection has the Coralvu retrofit kit (E-ballast, bulb, socket, reflector, cords) for 229.00 plus tax and delivery. About 280 or so.


Scott

[Invigor]

yes it will. I'm not sure if ecol would carry them or not. I'm sure any company that deals with sylvania or philips on a wholesale basis SHOULD be able to get a ballast in.

there are only a few manufacturers that produce the m80 ballast, so if you're getting a PFO or coralvue HQI ballast, it will more than likely be either sylvania or advance on the inside.

[briansmyth]

My buffer is definitely full! This is a ton of good information about lighting ... lots of news to me.

This reef site has become an even greater resource over the last six months or so. In an earlier post, someone else referred to this and also remarked about how quickly others answer posts. I agree.

I've noticed that I view other reef sites less often now and I spend more time at this one.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to create a thread or add a comment.

[scotchy]

Cool. Thanks for the help John.


Scott