Lighting poll, brand specific
 

Well it`s been over a year since People out here have been able to use S.A. bulbs on their tanks. I for one will never pay for another as I`ve tried both the 10k and the 14k and found neither to be satisfactory. When you can`t accept the k rating to be correct on a bulb, what good is it? Maybe it would be ok over a fuge or sump if you don`t mind the heat. Comments please.

Re: Lighting poll, brand specific
 

and what should a 10K bulb look like? The only ones I haven't seen have a tint of either yellow or green are the AB's and they are a 13K.

at any rate I will be doing a PAR reading on my SA 10K's which should be around a year or just over now to see how they held up.

Steve

I thought the 10k would be whiter than my old iwasaki.

Re: Lighting poll, brand specific
 

And I'll just add that they are very yellow/green if run on a standard ballast and not the HQI.

I'm running 10K 400W Venki Bulb on a Blueline Electronic Ballast, they look white to me, I don't see yellow,green purple or orange :smile:

what wattage bulb and what ballast were you using?

Steve

I have both a 250 and a 400 se bulbs on m58 and m59 sylvania ballasts. Maybe they should be run by hqi`s?

ya the M58 isn't even a recomended ballast for them, if you know some one with a pulse start try them on that and if you are buying HQI they run nice on that also.

Steve

I asked venki before I bought them if these ballasts were ok and he said they were fine. I`ve thought about going hqi`s. Every bulb on an hqi ballast is over driven, yes?

wrong. just run properly for maximum output with out overdriving for 250's anyways as there is no such thing as a 400 watt HQI

Steve

J&L is selling 400 hqi pfo ballasts for $ 389 for a double

yup, in the 400's all they are is a Son Agro ballast, which is a High pressure sodium (finaly remembered it isn't a mercury vapour ballast :mrgreen: ) ballast that is actualy a 430 watt ballast.

so what you see here is a 430 watt ballast that is designed for another type of HID lighting that happens to make a 400 watt bulb burn brighter and whiter due to the hoter running temp, with a reasonable impact on bulb life. in the 400 watt HQI you are overdriving the bulb, the 250 which is ture HQI you are not.

Steve

Well thats good to know for when I upgrade my ballasts. Thanks