Aqualight Ballast! 250W to a 400W

[pcurry18]

Has anyone ever replaced a ballast in a aqualight professional series light? Mine isnt broken yet but when it does break i was going to upgrade the current 250 ballast to a 400 ballast. Is this possible? I would imagine that the ballast's have to be similar in size right! If anyone has any info on this, please help me out. Thanks in advance!

Paul

 

[MrMikeB]

I have wired in my new 250 W magnetic ballasts (upgraded from 175s) in the same chassis. The electronic ones are super easy, and the magnetic are not that far off the mark either - just more wires. If you are planning to keep the same housing, just be mindful of heat dissipation, but other than that its pretty straightforward. I am not versed with the AQ pros, but I imagine that a ballast is a ballast and share the same major components.

 

[pcurry18]

well the ballast is external. I have it under my tank atm. Do i swap that out and use the same fixture, or do i swap out a ballast inside the ballast per se. I have found no info on the net about doing it so im a little confused.

 

[xia]

I would just buy a 400 watt ballast in a box and sell off the old one. Who knows when the 250's going to break down.

Wiring those things can be a real pain in the butt, especially if you don't know what you're doing. If you're upgrading to 400 the bulbs are going to be longer so, make sure your reflectors will fit. Other than that you won't need to buy new sockets unless the ballast has special quick disconnects, and even then you can just cut the cables and rewire those together.

I've opened a few ballast boxes, and those wires never seem to be labeled for quick recognition. IMO just buy a new ballast in a box, and new reflectors if need be.

 

[MrMikeB]

If you are looking to upgrade, the simplest way is to swap out the entire ballast and chassis (especially external). You just have to replace it with one that will work with your existing wiring. This is not as trivial as it seems. I bought an upgraded ballast from the same company who made my 175s and the hood it went to - just to find they changed the pin layout in the cables so I had to actually rewire it anyhow. If you wanted to save a little $$ (and it is not much of a savings), swap the components inside out with the upgrades via DIY.

Another thing to consider is that if you do it DIY, you might lose some resale value of your old one as people are more apt to purchase a 'complete' ballast vs. just the innards.