Hehe,

Ok so it turns out one nipple is up and the other down. The up one is the brighter bulb so I'll move the other one and see what happens. Gotta wait till the bulbs cool off tho. Dang those things get hot!

Christy :)

Yup, nipples are supposed to be up on the bulbs. Also I hear fans direclty blowing on MH bulbs cool them down below thier designed operating temperature which, in turn, brings the bulb kelvin down.

H37 ballast are the optimum ballasts for Iwasaki. They are mercury vapor, suposidly they run the Iwasaki brighter, whiter and more intense. It's what they are designed to run on.

I think it has been disproved now that the nipple orientation has anything to do with bulb performance or output. I think Advanced Aquarist had an article entitled " Nipple Nonsense" that covers the topic quite well. I have one up and one down, makes no difference for mine.

Hey Brad, I know Richard had all the evidence in his article and it was all well presented but I've seen pictures to the contrary. I think one of the Nathans had some pictures showing up and down and it certainly looked brighter to me with the nipple up. I've never bothered to try anything else but I like my nipples up :twisted:

Sorry bud, not touchin' that one!! 8)

Well one has always been up and the other down (no smirking please :wink: ). I tried to orient both of them the same way but due to the threading and position of the fixtures thats the way it has to be. I ended up switching the bulbs but havn't seen them in action yet. I'll post tomorrow. Somehow, I don't think this is totally bulb related.


Thanks for the input.

Christy :)

Hi Christy,

Your prolly right, that isnt the problem.
I had thought if you pulled them out to clean them after the power went out,you may not have oriented the nipples :oops: the same as before.

I do remember one of my bulbs looking way dimmer and more yellow on a previous setup.
In that instance i could say forsure that is was 100% the capacitor that was the problem, after switching out to a new one she was as good as new with the same bulb.

Hopefully thats all it is,because thats an easy and quick fix for you.
Ill bring a new one for you anyways,

Well okay, lighting is on this morning and everything is bright. In fact, painfully bright. Yesterday I could look at the bulbs while they were on, today my retinas recoil in horror. They are definitely brighter and all I did was swap the bulbs to opposite sides of the tank. Oh and I left the lid to the ballast box open. I dunno what the heck is going on. Maybe there is a screw loose in the operator :P

Christy :)

could the ballasts be getting too warm christy? having the cover off now allows them to cool - try putting it back on and see if it affects the bulbs.
shane

Good idea, I'll try that. If it is the heat affecting the ballasts, I guess I'll have to install a fan in the ballast box or something.

Christy :)