250 watt mh's needed

[Angela Short]

I am looking for some duel 250 watt MH's. Cooltouchlighting from ebay no longer has anything listed!! Anyone familiar with the ARO electric ballasts? They are on sale for $99 each from hellolights. Any other leads on a reasonable set? And whats the benifit of a DE bulb if any? (the electronic will run either) Are the hotter or cooler? Thanks I kinda need to order something ASAP!

 

[RockStarFish]

They do run a little cooler and they save on your electic bill not shure if all electronic ballasts run both SE and DE or not

 

[coral_reefer_25]

I use the ARO ballast from Hellolights. It works great. No humming or buzzing, and it fires every time.

 

[TitansFan]

The DE will punch down deeper in your tank. The drawback to them is you have to mount in a pendant with uv glass and the bulbs cost more. I had thought about switching to de so I could mount them like this guy did: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=906373
It would keep the lights totally out of the way and not much heat in the canopy.

I run icecap and love them. I have heard the ARO ballast are very similar to icecap. If you for sure want a good ballast Premium Aquatics has icecaps on sale for $115 and the Sunlight Reef Optix 3 pendants on sale for $110.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...duct_Code=ICE-250NHB&Category_Code=Ice-halide
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...oduct_Code=SL-OPTIX3&Category_Code=Sunpendant

 

[KAiNE]

I'll second the ARO ballasts.. works great for me.

 

[Angela Short]

OH I didn't know you had to run the DE in a pendent, that is as much as the ballast! I am trying to get by as cheap as possiable without compramising quality to bad. Middle of the road so to say

I would like the deeper penitraitionfor the 31 tall tank the DE gives but just can't go with the seperate pendents also. I guess I could get the electric and run SE and have the ability to change down the road. The magnetic ballasts are only like $59 but do they have to be housed in a heat sink? I plan on mounting all the ballasts behind the wall the tank is on under the steps to keep heat at a minimum.

 

[TitansFan]

The electric ballast will save you money in electricity over the long haul. Also they fire pretty much any bulb out there and you would have the option for DE down the road. I believe bulbs put out more PAR on electronic than magnetic.

 

[gflat65]

I run DE's and honestly, I might go SE if I had to do it again. They give my acros good color, but it is almost too much (may be the bulb, though). The bulbs will run longer in most cases (I have heard 18 months for most), but I replace after a year on DE's and nine months on SE's). SE's will definitely be cheaper initially. I haven't seen an SE and a DE side by side, but I think the DE pushes more light (once again, could be the bulb, as it is a high par bulb)...

 

[fishdoc11]

I didn't really care for my experience with DE's FWIW. I got great coloration on my zoanthids but everything else looked washed out with great water quality. ARO and Icecap both have good reps.
Chris

 

[Pickupman66]

angela, I dont have a MH ballast, but the VHo I use is ARO. I have been extremely happy with it and have not hat to worry about it since I installed it. I was worried about heat but the electronic is nice and cool.

 

[Angela Short]

OK I got Doodoobrowns icecap electric ballast tonight and wow how easy was that! I just happened to have 2 thick power cords laying around from the other 250 magnetic ballasts frying the guts and a quick cut and splice with wire nuts and bam they fired right up. No warm up or flickering on and off, just bam they started ramping right up and never missed a beat. Well 1 bulb, I am going to just order another ballast just like it. I think its well worth the extra $$ to get the electric with no huge heavy heatsinks and humming or excessive heat to warp the hardwood it sat on...(no honey I don't think my ballast did THAT) I am very impressed with the icecap ballast. Thanks for the help and links!