MH Ballast/bulb question

[calebjk]

I'm just full of questions today, so here it is.
I bought an aquapod 12 from ipniowa earlier this year, and he was generous enough to throw in a couple ballast and a reflector with the deal.
so far i've been running the tank with the stock lighting but now i'm interested in switching to MH.
Here is the info on the ballast he gave me.
http://www.advancetransformer.com/eCatalog/out/6435604301.pdf
It is from a company called Advanced Transformer and it's model number is 72c5581np
It looks like the ballast will run either 175/150W bulbs and the reflector i have is fitted for a single end bulb.
So the question i'm finally going to get to is.........
Is it a good idea to do what i want to do, and what bulb do you guys recommend.
This will be my first personal experience with MH, so it's ok to treat me like i don't know what i'm talking about.
i am also considering replacing the ballast with something more high end in about 6 months if i go ahead with this.

 

[Atticus]

It is a M57 ballast. Here is a link to Hello Lights website. They also list bulbs that are compatable. I personally would stay away from 20K bulbs as 175 watt 20K are pretty dark. Get a 10K that is listed or better yet find a compatable 14K bulb. K rating tells you how blue the light it 6500K is yello 20,000K is very blue 10,000 is white 14,000 is white/blue.

 

[Coralfreak]

Id go with the 175W Iwasaki 15K, has a nice color from all I have read and has an EXCELLENT PAR value, its actually well above many 250W bulbs.

 

[ReefFreak3652]

Aquapod 12...thats the molded plastic hood correct? A Metal Halide bulb would melt the plastic hood i would think. I would assume you would have to build a custom canopy to run a halide. I have never personally seen one so i dont know how much room you are working with exactly but the 175w single end bulbs are pretty big. I would probably see if the balast will fire a 150 double ended bulb as they take up much less space. Then you always have the issue of heat, 150w will heat up 12 gallons pretty quick.

 

[calebjk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11028448#post11028448 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefFreak3652
Aquapod 12...thats the molded plastic hood correct? A Metal Halide bulb would melt the plastic hood i would think. I would assume you would have to build a custom canopy to run a halide. I have never personally seen one so i dont know how much room you are working with exactly but the 175w single end bulbs are pretty big. I would probably see if the balast will fire a 150 double ended bulb as they take up much less space. Then you always have the issue of heat, 150w will heat up 12 gallons pretty quick.

i will be removing the hood and mounting the enclosure i have over the aquapod, everything will fit, i just need to figure out what would be the best bulb to use.