kingfish August 8, 2007 Share August 8, 2007 Does anyone know where the best place to buy M80 eletronic ballast? I'm looking for a decent price of course. With in the next two months, I plan or purchasing a 2-250 W metal halide kit for my 90 gallon tank. I am only considering electronic ballast. I don't have the space for anything else. Right now, I'm not sure if i want to use any supplemental lighting as part of retrofit kit. I'm not look at a 400W halide kit becuase i don't want to the deal with the additional power usage and heat. I willing to consider used merchandise becuase I don't have the HQI fixtures at this time. Once again, this is an inquiry. I plan on purchasing the retro kit and fabricating the canopy within a month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 8, 2007 Share August 8, 2007 There are a couple in the for sale section right now, don't know if they are electronic ballast or HQI ballasts though. Otherwise, try the usual suspects - Hello Lights (lampsnow.com) or Champion (championlighting.com). You can also try reef geek, not sure of the site, or a few other places. Generally on electronic ballasts you can get them cheaper if they are just the ballast and not encased in a housing. Housings are easy to make and if it's electronic, you don't even need to house it as it won't get that hot and can be mounted somewhere where it's protected from splashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 August 9, 2007 Share August 9, 2007 Before any ballast question should be asked, you need to determine your bulb choice. Out of curiosity, why are you opposed to a magnetic ballast? I don't understand the space argument? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 9, 2007 Share August 9, 2007 I'm guessing the extra parts that require a housing for the magnetic ballast are what are driving the concerns here. That said, I agree with what Dan said. Choose a bulb first and then plan ballasts according to your selection. Although electronic ballasts can run any bulb from what I understand, they don't always run them as well as they could be run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfish August 20, 2007 Author Share August 20, 2007 How does the bulb selection affect the ballast choice? I decided on the electronic ballast inorder to minimum heat and space requirments. Plus I was lead to believe that the electronic ballast are more efficent and flexiable. I really can't say at this time what bulb or temperature color I want to use as it will be based on what appeals to me in the following priority. 1. Coral Growth 6500 K not sure what brand but heard good thing about geinsemman and Iwaski 2. Visual asthetics I like the blue lighting. I intially didn't plan on using any supplemental lighting from eith a VHO or T5 but I'm still in the research phase. Thanks for all of the input. Rommel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMsAquarium August 21, 2007 Share August 21, 2007 (edited) 1. Coral Growth 6500 K not sure what brand but heard good thing about geinsemman and Iwaski 6500K bulbs will give a yellowish color. They usually give excellent coral growth. 2. Visual asthetics I like the blue lighting. either 14000K for a light blue or 20000k for a more pronounced blue I intially didn't plan on using any supplemental lighting from eith a VHO or T5 but I'm still in the research phase. Actinics or super actinics will bring up the fluorescent colors out of your corals. Not that you would really need these for growth, but for aestethic purposes it will matter. Edited August 21, 2007 by JMsAquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfish August 22, 2007 Author Share August 22, 2007 either 14000K for a light blue or 20000k for a more pronounced blue Actinics or super actinics will bring up the fluorescent colors out of your corals. Not that you would really need these for growth, but for aestethic purposes it will matter. thanks for the info everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMsAquarium August 22, 2007 Share August 22, 2007 (edited) thanks for the info everyone! You are welcome Also an alternative to MH is T5. I used to have a 120g (48x24x24) lighted by 4 T5 (2 11000K Aquablue + 2 Actinics 40/60) bulbs) + 2 VHO super actinic 03. All driven by IceCap electronic ballasts (660 for the four T5s and 430 for the two VHOs). Coloration was a crisp white with a light blue tint, the fluorescent colors of the corals were just gorgeous, for my liking of course. Growth was very good. Heat was definitely not an issue. Prior to that I was using two 400W MH + 2 VHOs. Growth was about the same but temp was high (83F Edited August 22, 2007 by JMsAquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 September 12, 2007 Share September 12, 2007 It has been my experience that 14K bulbs and 20K bulbs do not give as good of growth as 6500K or 10K bulbs. That being said, 6500K and 10K bulbs are very white, and you wont get the blue you are looking for. I used to run 20K bulbs, and loved the blue coloring. i went to 10K bulbs, and saw a significant increase in growth, but mourned the loss of the blue that I loved so much. In order to get more blue, I supplemented my 10K bulbs with 2 46.5" VHO actinic bulbs at 110W each. My MH bulbs are XM 10K 250W each. Be forwarned, that the heat from dual 250W MH bulbs is significant, and eventually led me to purchase a chiller, which was a very expensive but necessary investment. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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