Metal Halide Ballast

[JUSTIN11]

I am thinking of upgrading to MH but don't know a whole lot about them. Can you run a DE bulb off of any ballast or does it have to be a ballast made of a DE bulb? What would be the best brand of electronic ballast? Is the any advantages to going with a DE bulb compared to a SE bulb? Are the any advantages to going with an electronic ballast vs magnetic? Would a 400W system be too much for a 75 gallon? As you can tell I don't know a whole lot about Metal Halides so any advise would help out a lot.

[cpreefguy]

Go with the double ended with the electronic ballast.
Double ended has almost twice the light output as a single ended and is much more efficient. The electronic ballst will be much more effecient as well (Lower heat and lower cost to run).
A 400w over a 75g would be ideal, go for it.

[dwdenny]

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com Look here and you can compare the lamp and ballast combos to see what works the best. Electronic ballast don't over run the bulb as much as HQI ballast but if you go 250 DE on HQI ballst you can get about 325 or so out of a 250w bulb. So you might not have to go all the way up to 400w. DE bulbs are designed to be run on the HQI ballast and from what I can tell don't have premature life due to being overdriven by the ballast. One other thing isthe e-ballast tend to make the bulbs a bit bluer then mag ballasts. here are a few more threads that might help as well. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=201570
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=575417
HTH.