Ballast Question

[wflash3]

Say i have a ballast capable of 250w, and i put in a bulb thats 150w, will the ballast blow out that bulb? or will it run enough just for the 150w?

flash

 

[wflash3]

anyone?

flash

 

[bobf]

Pretty sure this has been answered before in the negative - don't do it!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, i remember reading before that it's a bad idea

 

[wflash3]

yea i was just checking cuz a 250w bulb really kills my light bill about $10 more a month

flash

 

[wflash3]

Ok since i dont want to make a whole new topic for basically the same question ill put it here;

Whats the difference between a 175w MH bulb thats 10,000k and 175w MH bulb thats 14,000k or 20,000k. Basically i want to know what does more kelvins do for a tank.

Thanks again, flash

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the kelvins is the colour spectrum, one will be more bluey, one more whitey etc

we go for 10,000 or 14,000

 

[bobf]

the kelvins is the colour spectrum, one will be more bluey, one more whitey etc

we go for 10,000 or 14,000

What the Wigler said, plus the higher the K number the 'bluer' the light, lower numbers are more towards the red end of the spectrum.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the kelvins is the colour spectrum, one will be more bluey, one more whitey etc

we go for 10,000 or 14,000

What the Wigler said, plus the higher the K number the 'bluer' the light, lower numbers are more towards the red end of the spectrum.

he he that's the third nickname i've been given the last week or so off this forum

was also called the wigglemeister and o great and wise wiggly one

i like!

 

[wflash3]

the kelvins is the colour spectrum, one will be more bluey, one more whitey etc

we go for 10,000 or 14,000

What the Wigler said, plus the higher the K number the 'bluer' the light, lower numbers are more towards the red end of the spectrum.

he he that's the third nickname i've been given the last week or so off this forum

was also called the wigglemeister and o great and wise wiggly one

i like!

lol yeaaaa....ok thanks, so im guessing 14,000k would be the ideal amount for lighting?

flash

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, I thought I saw Wigglestar too

Wflash3, everybody's right, you have to match ballasts with bulbs. Creating a mis-match leads to one of 3 things: lamp won't fire, lamp burns out, lamp explodes and pours harmful glass, mercury, and other chemicals into your tank killing all inhabitants.

If electricity is your concern, an electronic ballast 175watt halide is your best option.

As far as color temp is concerned, 20,000k is the most blue-purple you can get. It also has the lowest PAR (photosynthetically available radiation) of any color temp of the same wattage. As a general rule of thumb, 10k's will give you the best growth, while 20k's will give you amazing colors. 14k is a good comprimise. Of course its way more detailed than that...

 

[wflash3]

so all in all 14k is the best bet since it will give me the growth and colour does anyone know where i can find a cheap 175w ballast? besides ebay lol which i find to be rather expensive, when it comes to ballasts atleast. Are all ballasts the same? I heard there was specific ballasts for MH lights but is there specific ones in terms of aquarium MH lights?

flash

 

[SkiFletch]

The beauty of an electronic 175watt halide ballast is that it will fire almoast any metal halide lamp. There are some differences between metal halide and the common industry lamp "mercury vapor" bulbs. In general if the ballast has the word "Halide" or "High Intensity Discharge (HID)" in the name and the right wattage it will be OK. Best place to look for ballasts is at a local club and get one used

 

[wflash3]

what you mean by local club?

flash

 

[SkiFletch]

Florida Marine Aquarium Society (FMAS)