Metal Halide / VHO fixture

Rhinoky

New member
Hello all;

I'm new to the forum and I'm just getting back into the hobby after about 10-15 years, and there is definitely a lot of changes and new innovations. Back in the day I ran a Hamilton 48" fixture with (2) 250W metal halides single ended with (2) 110W VHO super actinics. When I went out I got rid of all that gear which at the time was really expensive and the light new fixture alone was about $950.00.

I recently ran across the same style fixture (just a little different) on Craigslist but has the same MH and VHO setup so I bought it really cheap for $150 and it works well, and also came with an extra new MH 10K bulb with it. The new bulb alone has a price sticker of $119.00 on it so i figured I really couldn't go wrong paying $150 for everything. I know this is now old school and bulbs are cheaper but it worked great back in the day but there is a whole slew of different (K) bulbs out now compared to the 10K i ran back in the day. My questions is, How can I tell if my ballast will support higher temp MH bulbs like 14K, 20K and ect? The ballast really doesn't have any info on it other than it a Hamilton and takes 250watt bulbs.

My first fixture had a single ballast that controlled the VHO lights and the MH lights in one single box, and had one or two wires running from the ballast to the fixture. This setup maybe older style or possibly newer I don't know, but it has a separate ballast to run VHOs and has 4 power lines to plug into the wall along with 4 wires running from the ballast to the fixture. One plug to the wall alone controls only the fan which seems to really be a waste of plug space.

I've order two new 10K 250watt MH bulbs (SE) for it and two new 110w VHO super actinics 03 for now, but I was looking to the future as the 10K seem to be a bit harder to find. There seems to be a ton of 14K and 20K right now but I'm not sure if they are intended to be supplemented with the VHO? The 10Ks along with the VHO always produced a great look on my tank and I really don't want to change to LED or go T5 right now and this was a cheap startup for me for what use to be a very awesome light setup. any thoughts?
thank you
 
I don't think you will have much problem finding 10K metal halide bulbs in the future. They are available direct from us or from several different sources.

I think you will be very happy with the results you get using that 10K MH + VHO fixture.

It's a great combination for growth, color and natural shimmer effect.
 
Hello all;

My questions is, How can I tell if my ballast will support higher temp MH bulbs like 14K, 20K and ect? The ballast really doesn't have any info on it other than it a Hamilton and takes 250watt bulbs.

You can use any 250 watt SE bulb with that ballast. The ballast only concerns the wattage not the kelvin.
 
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