Bluewave MH ballasts??

[madmax7774]

When I do my tank upgrade, it looks like I am going to have to upgrade my lights as well. Still trying to decide between 250W and 400W, I was considering the bluewave ballasts from hellolights.com

http://www.hellolights.com/250wablwa7du.html

http://www.hellolights.com/430wablwa7du.html

I have several questions that hopefully someone can answer

 

1) - is the brand decent quality?

2) - does a dual ballast mean it runs two lights?

3) - does a 430W ballast run 400W bulbs?

4) - is this a decent deal?

 

I have bought other products from hellolights, and as a vendor they are awesome.

thanks!

John

[Gatortailale]

It's sunlight supply brand = very good. HQI = run DE bulbs or some use to overdrive other mogul buls to get more par from lamp.

 

First question to ask is what are any future upgrade plans - like will you get a 200 or 300 gallon tank in few years? If so, get 400's If sticking with the 110, maybe 250 HQI is best for that setup.

 

 

Appears to drive 2 400w lamps, but may be wrong on this point. Would have to read on Sunlight website or call hellolights.

 

downside to getting dual ballast, if one of the two fails, and you have to send back for warranty repair, you end up losing both ballasts.

 

Deal - well depends on lamps you want to run - double end (DE) or mogul; color or K of lamp (10k, 15k, 20k etc.); and brand of lamp.

 

Visit here and put in types of ballast and bulb and see the plots. http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

 

I have 3 x 400 on my 215 which is 30" deep. - downside is they will heat the water = buying chiller or running lots of fans to evaporate - yields to damp house.

[wolfman]

I would check into the PFO ballasts, i have some and they work great.

[madmax7774]

Wolfman, I just saw what looks like a great deal from marine depot for a PFO dual 250W ballast. it is the here:

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=PF1652

I am not sure what the difference is between the "EYE" ballast, The "HQI" ballast, and the "pulse start" other than the obvious price difference. I am used to running mogul bolbs, and will likely stick with them as I already have the base and reflectors setup for them. Which kind of PFO ballast do yuo have, and for mogul based bulbs, which do you recommend?

John

[HowardofNOVA]

I owned the Dual 250w BW and IMO considered it one of the best!

This comes from my own experience and TESTING DOZENS OF BULBS/BALLAST with the PAR Meter!!

Using the same 250w 10k Chinese Bulbs, the BW pushed the bulbs to a higher Par Reading over Icecap and about a 2 to 1 margin over PFO!! 3 to 1 over M58 DIY Ballast

Do a search above for "Par Meter" and you can see the results.

[wolfman]

it all depends on what bulb you want to use go to reefcentral and in the light forum there will be a place were you can see all the plots for bulb ballast combos, I have 400 watt radiums single ended on a pfo hqi ballast and i have had nohing but great results from this, check it out i think that it will help you.

[Guest navajo]

Just as a comparison...

 

I was at BRK a while back and we had a few minutes and played with his Light Meter in his coral tank (in front). He has 250 W 14 K bulbs running on 3 different ballasts ( Blueline, PFO, and IceCap). The Blueline and IceCap were putting out about 160 PAR at the waters surface, the PFO was putting out 270!

 

He has since gotten rid of the Blueline and switched in an ARO. We checked it this past weekend and it is no better than the Blueline.

 

Keep in mind though that PFO DOES overdrive the bulbs a bit to get that kind of PAR, so you will burn through bulbs a bit quicker.

 

HTH!

 

 

Tom

[fab]

What does it mean to you that someone is an "awesome vendor?"

fab

[madmax7774]

In my view, an awesome vendor should:

 

(1) have the best prices or darn close to

(2) be willing to answer my questions without losing patience just because they answer the same questions 20 times a day.

(3) pack the order well, to prevent breakage

(4) ship in a timely fashion

(5) if they spot an obvious problem with component compatibilty, call the customer and say "hey are you sure you want this because of X, Y, and Z...."

(6) if they screw up, own up to it, and fix it.

(7) not try to take advantage of the customer.

 

if they can hit most or all of those, they are an awesome vendor.

Hellolights has done all of the above for me except for #6, because they have never screwed up any of my orders.

Even if there prices are a few dollars more, I am loyal to them for their overall quality.

It's the same for me when I buy Computer parts. I always go with newegg.com Occasionally their prices are slightly more, but the customer service is beyond comparison.

John

[wolfman]

Just as a comparison...

 

I was at BRK a while back and we had a few minutes and played with his Light Meter in his coral tank (in front). He has 250 W 14 K bulbs running on 3 different ballasts ( Blueline, PFO, and IceCap). The Blueline and IceCap were putting out about 160 PAR at the waters surface, the PFO was putting out 270!

 

He has since gotten rid of the Blueline and switched in an ARO. We checked it this past weekend and it is no better than the Blueline.

 

Keep in mind though that PFO DOES overdrive the bulbs a bit to get that kind of PAR, so you will burn through bulbs a bit quicker.

 

HTH!

Tom

I think howard needs to check his par meter.

[Guest navajo]

I think howard needs to check his par meter.

 

Why do you say that?

 

Also, it was John, not Howard.

[madmax7774]

Thank you guys for all your opinions, I ended up going with ARO electronic ballasts as part of a package deal.

John