400 Radiums & Blue Wave ballasts.

[Doug]

Hi all. I have started another thread on this topic, as the other is getting long winded and this one will also. :D There have been many questions on it, so as an owner of both products, here are some observations.

I was driving my 20K with my regular PFO ballast. I was looking at both the Blue Wave and Stephane,s excellent priced ballast to drive the bulbs or scrap them all together and go back to a lower "K". As Mike bought all my 175 watt 10K equipment, I decided to stick with them.

I purchased a 400 watt Blue Wave ballast from Jayson. Its one of the best & nicest looking ballasts I have owned. It does look, {outside only}, somewhat similar to my PFO. Has very nice features though. Long, good thick, quick dis-connect cables, lighted on/off switch and even an extra plug-in at the back.

I tried both the pendant and now the retrofit reflector. Both very nice units. I have settled on the reflector, as its behind a wall anyways. On a side note, anyone looking for a pendant to hang over their tank in a living room, that is one very nice unit, at an excellent price. { I have purchased others, so I can compare}.

Now, on to the important part. Here is all I have to compare with at the moment & what I propose. I would say its a fair bit brighter than running the bulb on a normal ballast. I only have one Radium bulb though.

I ran my 400 watt 20K and a 400 watt 12K, side by side, on a normal ballast. IMO, and thats what this is, [img]smile.gif[/img] , there was no difference, NONE. When I now run the 12K on a normal ballast & the 20K on the Blue Wave, there is a large difference. Much brighter.

Of course I have no comparison with either the HQI or electronic ballasts. I wanted at least a year from the bulbs, and electronics are another story.

What I would like to do, is to get another 20K bulb and run it side-by-side. A normal PFO ballast & a Blue Wave ballast. Then we shall see. As my bulb is a month old, I would need the same for a comparison. I will ask Jayson if he has one. [img]smile.gif[/img]

To me at least, I will run the ballast. Its a quality product, with a good warrenty. As a matter of fact, I was thinking about getting the duel instead and selling both my single Blue Wave & my PFO. Any takers. :D

On a side note, for those looking for my web page, I apologize. I have finished my contract with Homestead and am making a new page. It will reflect all the changes I have made recently. I only have the 170 now, no sandbed, tons of live rock, filtered only by a large ATS unit.

[ 16 August 2002, 06:24: Message edited by: Doug ]