400W DE, anyone use em?

[Whatigot]

sorry for the somewhat off topic banter...
When I was really considering switching to 400's, just about everyone told me that the bump in par and watts was just not worth the extra heat and electrical draw...

I decided to stick with my 250 de's, based on seeing untamed's tank on 250 de's at a 27" or 28" depth and the growth and color he had would make just about any reefer happy.

I think unless you're like 30" or deeper, I can't imagine it's worth the benefits when you don't have to look at too many tank of the months to see that for most set ups, 250 is a lot of wattage....

[fkshiu]

I agree. Unless you have a very deep tank the added heat and electrical usage of 400w doesn't justify a marginal (if any) increase in PAR. In fact, with some setups a good 250W system will outperform a 400w system.

[Skimmerking]

Well that is why i went from DE to a mogul again after getting bulbs megachromes at 115 each and breakin them twice not impressed. now i run mogul's if the DE 250's and the 400's well like the 150's i would have kept them . but the way they are you wont see me going back to them ever again...

[Jack]

There are practically no choices or sources for 400w DE bulbs.

You need to buy electronic ballasts or use tar HQI ballasts @ 5.5 amps each.

Maybe you could upgrade your current halide reflectors to Lumenarcs for an upgrade instead of going 400w DE.

[smokinreefer]

heh, well i like the hamilton 14ks... my experience with those are on the 250W DEs so far, so those are the bulbs i'd use.

so right now the ballasts i have are ansi m135. should i be considering swapping those out for something else? will something else run the 400W DEs better?

what ballasts are you talking about jack?

[Jack]

I haven't heard about a Hamilton 400w DE.

Just dont do it lol....