72" Lights from Aquatraders

[wtym]

Originally Posted by xtreme

When I say upgrade i mean I changed out the ballasts that came with it for Icecap's and Vertex ballasts. The difference in brightness was like night and day. I then changed out the odyssea lamps with ushio and the color went from yellow to a nice crisp white/blue.

I bought one and had to change out all the ballasts and bulbs after just a few months. If I could go back and do it again I'd buy a better quality one first to avoid massive headaches.

[xtreme]

Originally Posted by wtym

I bought one and had to change out all the ballasts and bulbs after just a few months. If I could go back and do it again I'd buy a better quality one first to avoid massive headaches.

Mine was still working fine, I was just curious to see how big of a difference a ballast could make. I picked up one new ballast and after seeing how much brighter it made the original bulb I had to get two more. That made me wonder about the quality of the bulbs as well. I picked up some 14k Ushio's and the color was much better, although when comparing the original bulbs they were 6 months old.

Which MH fixtures are the best I do not know. I have seen some nice units available but I'm not in the market for one right now so haven't done the research. What I do know is quality lamps and ballast go a long ways.