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Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic
HQI - Mercury (Hg) Quartz Iodide
HQI I believe come in both SE & DE.
Somebody asked me tonight so I googled it.
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Bingo
Ok Like Delphinus and other have said, the term HQI is abused and not used properly at all in our industry. The HQI ballast is built to replicate German reactor type ballast outputs and comes in several different wattages, 50W , 70W, 150W, and 250W. (If they are making a 400W now I have never seen it) but I believe they use the Son Agro ballast for the 400 watt HQI (DE) but I am not sure.
now a 250W HQI ballast will drive any 250W bulb on the market but a DE bulb has to be driven by a HQI ballast. make sense?
so there is a difference in the bulbs a DE needs a DE holder, they are smaller profile and will put out close to the same light as most 400W set ups, but a 250 watt (quality bulb) SE run on a HQI ballast will put out more light than than most 400W systems and with reflectors thrown in the results can be amazing.
the DE bulb is great for tight spots, smaller tanks (less of a foot print to run say 2" x 2" at a max) where the SE will light a 3ft x 3ft spot with about the same amount of light intensity. Also there are a lot more choices in lights on the SE side but DE is getting better.
Steve
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