Damn, that hood looks exactly like mine . I was going to order some of those bulbs as well. J&L said they were trying to get some in, but had no time frame.

Brent

Can a person buy a retrofit reflector for this unit , or do they have to make one ?

Brent

i dunno, i have that hood and need to make some reflectors for it as well. i think i might get some hammertone and try that.

j&l must be changing their minds, i asked them about bringing in iwaskai 14k 175's and they told me to try de xm 250 watt 20k's :rolleyes:

electronic ballasts aren't known for high performance, but for economy. Also, XM designs their bulbs to run best on probe start ballasts -- hence the better numbers on the standard magnetic ballasts. It proves that XM did a good job fine tuning the bulb for probe start ballasts.

In this article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005...ew?searchterm=

they test the Iwasaki 14K. I don't know ballasts but is the last one a probe start?

Yes, M57 is probe start.

I know I've typed in the list (of ANSI #'s and their meanings) a few times in the past. Let me do a search .... OK here is one, there is a breakdown of the ANSI numbers in this thread (second post)
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...ight=ANSI+M137

HTH

nice.. the 175w has more output than the xm15k 250w ;)

Bumpity...

Is anyone running the 14k Iwasaki's now on a probe start ballast ? What do they look like ?

The Iwasaki 14K has been making quite a buzz on RC. I haven't seen pics (which are almost always misleading in terms of what you'd see in person) but from all accounts I've read, it's a true 14K colour bulb (white with a very slight blue tint) with enough PAR to give many 250W bulbs a good run.

You guys missed this thread. :p I've been running this lamp since June.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25588

I run XM 10k's 250W on another tank, and the intensity is virtually indistinguishable. Not that XM's are no good, quite the opposite in fact, they're a great lamp and I'm a big fan of them. But as good as they are, the Iwasaki is just hands-down the best 175W lamp I've ever run. I regret selling my other 2 M57 ballasts now. I can't wait to see this lamp in other wattages.