Metal Halide bulb Suggestion

[coolkidtr]

Im looking for a 250 metal halide single ended bulb that would match my vertex 250 watt electronic ballast. I currently use an Ushio 20 k. I was thinking of moving to xm 20 k or 15k, ushio 14k or pheonix 14k. Any experience matching this ballast to any of these bulb combinations would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tony

 

[sirreal63]

The ballast will light any of them, but most European bulbs are HQI in a SE form factor. The main issues with running the HQI on a regular 250 watt ballast is it will under drive the bulbs and they typically have a less that spec starting Kv. The Vertex is rated to start the lamp with 1.6kv and HQI is spec'd to have a 4-5kv for starting the lamp. What does that mean? Only that it is possible to have a shorter life on the bulb. Par will be slightly reduced but that may not be a big issue in reality.

If you want a best case match, stick with a bulb designed to be run on the M58 ballast which the XM's are. FYI the XM 20k puts out more par than the XM 15k. The Ushio you are currently running is an HQI bulb and if you have been happy with it then you probably have no issue with whatever bulb you go with, but the best match will still be a bulb designed for the M58. The Ushio and Phoenix are both HQI. To help a little check out this article.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/sj/index.php

Isn't lighting fun?

 

[coolkidtr]

Thanks a million. I will move forward with the xms

T

 

[ashish]

I think Sanjays great and I am actually going to get some fragonnies from him this weekend.. But his "fact of Lights" article gives me a migraine..lol