Battle of the HQIs

[StirCrazy]

Well thanks to SamW, I am able to make the results of my first HQI comparison knowen.

the two set ups will be

1, the AB 250 watt 10000K DE (HQI) in a mini pendant and powered by a IceCap HQI electronic ballast.

2, The AB 250 10000K watt SE (HQI) in a home made reflector and powered by a Advance M80 250 watt HQI ballast.

inital observations I had show the IceCap to run real cool whare my M80s can heat a small room , infact I would not have any problems mounting it against wood at all, but I would raise it just to be safe. on the down side the IceCaps restrike was found to be about 15 min whare my M80s have a restrike time of less than 5 min , I would have expected quicker for a electronic ballast.

Now for some numbers, sence there was no tank set up that we could do both ballasts on at the same time I did a all air measurment of 12"
(Just for some background notes both the AB SE and DE bulbs are HQI and tested by them selves put out almost the exact same numbers, the DE has the advantage of being able to be put into reflectors that are smaller and can focuse the light better. so the differences will be from a combanation of ballast and reflector)

IceCap set up
12" from outside of actual bulb to top of sensor = 703.92 PAR

M80 set up
12" from outside of actual bulb to top of sensor = 1071.69 PAR

I also tested mine through 5" air plus 7" of water (12" total) and got a result of 709.32 PAR

and interesting note is that if I look back to testing Brad's tank with the son agros and the Ushio 10K's I got readings of 400 PAR and 555 PAR respectivly.

I also had the opertunity to test a 250 watt radium on my Ballast thanks to Rachel and was very impressed with the results there also. first the 250 watt radium has no internal starter so you need a ballast with a starter to run it, and it is about 2/3 the length of the 250 watt AB.

the results... 655.35 PAR throught the 5" air and 7" water. (only slightly lower than the AB#'s

here are a couple comparason pics, the first is two ABs the second pic is one radium and one AB





Steve