Amount of wattage?

[StirCrazy]

175 watt bulbs re limited in what selection you will fine. 175 watt 10000K Ushios are probably a more commen 175 watt bulb that is used.

Steve

[Wilty]

Ok, I've decided to just say screw it. I want to be able to do more with my tank so I'm going to just do it right now. I'm going to go buy 400W MH bulbs tonight from the LFS and figure out the ballast after.

So new question What brand is everyone favorite?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Wilty

So new question What brand is everyone favorite?

The favorite for growth is the Iwasaki, cause it's so bright (but yellow). The Radiums are the favorite for color, unless your favorite for color is the Ushio 10k. The AB 10k is a bit more blue, so it might be the favorite. Oh wait, does the 14k blueline come in 400w? Maybe that's the favorite! Oh, the bulb color and life expectancy changes with the balast chosen, so what is your favorite reef color? Hope you got enough money left for extra tylenol

[Wilty]

Well i think me changing my mind will give everyone a headache. I saw 10k Ushio 250W bulbs and now I think I'm going to go with those. I didn't see an "M" rating on them though?????

[Aquattro]

I believe M58 run those, although the M80 might be a better choice. Stircrazy can tell you for sure when he pops in here.

[StirCrazy]

M58 will run them, but if you can spend the extra 50.00/ballast get the Ansi M80 ballast. (carfull when you order a M80 as they will tell you they are not made and a bunch of stuff depending whare you go. usaqly they will take about 2 weeks to get in and make sure it is the one made by advance)

Steve

[Delphinus]

Officially the M58 is the preferred ballast (see www.ushio.com) for the Ushio 250W/10K but I've heard that people find better results on the pulse-starts ... which is .. um ... M158? Not sure offhand but yes yet another ANSI "M" designation. Although the M80 might still be the best bet since as Steve mentioned it's the closest to Euro specs.

If you REALLY want your head to hurt, surf on over to www.advancetransformer.com and read up the specs on all their HID ballasts. If you start to get the run-around from lighting suppliers (I don't know why they do this but they all do it) it is sometimes helpful to tell them "look the part # of the ballast I need is 'Advance blahblahblahblah' so please look that up" and then they can't tell you anymore that the ballast doesn't exist, they have to come up with a more creative excuse not to sell it to you.

[Wilty]

Ok good call. I bought the bulbs. Monday I will speak for my elec. and see what he can order. Meanwhile I will research the ballast types. I doubt I will get a brand name like advance. So i may default to an M58

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Wilty

Ok good call. I bought the bulbs. Monday I will speak for my elec. and see what he can order. Meanwhile I will research the ballast types. I doubt I will get a brand name like advance. So i may default to an M58

um M58 is the ansi designation, every ballast company makes a M58. in that style the difference between bying a advance and a venture or what ever would be about 10 bucks probably.. I would get the advance M58 as they are a higher quality ballast.

Steve

[Buccaneer]

Here is a post from over at RC that sums up MH ballast/bulb combinations ...

Originally posted by electric130
I have seen countless lighting threads asking what each MH ballast is or what bulbs work on it. I orginally posted this in another forum to answer another member's question. I thought it was best posted here. If there's anything I missed, or have incorrect, please let me know.

250w example:

Probe start: ANSI: M58, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M138, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: M80, core, capacitor, ignitor
EYE: ANSI: H37, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

probe start will run american bulbs with ignitors built into the bulbs like coralife and venture bulbs. some german and euro bulbs will run fine on these, but without an ignitor, the bulb struggles to light and bulb life may be decreased. also reliabilty goes down.

pulse start will run the german/euro bulbs (ushio, AB, radium, etc.) these bulbs don't have built in ignitors, so the ballast has the ignitor wired into the circuit. the ignitor provides the high voltages needed to fire the bulb. you can run probe start bulbs on these ballasts, but the two ignitors may try to fight each other and possibly cause a fire.

HQI ballasts are similar to pulse starts in their wiring and ability to run bulbs. the output is a little higher which is meant to run the double-ended bulbs (commonly called HQI bulbs). people run mogul bulbs on these and they run a little hotter and brighter because they are being overdriven. this in turn shortens the life of the bulbs.

EYE ballasts are mercury vapor ballasts. they are similar to a probe start ballast, but the only bulb you can run on these are Iwasaki 6500K bulbs (because these are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs like most think). the ballast will damage MH bulbs if you try to run one on it.

Electronic. ahhh, the great electronics. these will run any bulb at the rated wattage: probe start, pulse start, iwasakis, DE (double ended-HQI). if you think you might change your mind in the future, get an electronic. you can change bulbs to whatever you want and not have to worry about the ballast being the wrong type. electronics run cooler (a magnetic MH ballast will burn your hand if you touch the coil after it's been running for awhile). they also use less energy.

Additional info:

175watt:
Probe start: ANSI: M57, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M137, core, capacitor, ignitor
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

400watt:
Probe start: ANSI: M59, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M135, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: SON AGRO, core, capacitor, ignitor (this is actually a 430w HPS ballast used primarily in hydroponics)
EYE: ANSI: H33, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires