This is the metal halides that I'm getting very soon.

[josephatmbimortgage]

It was recommended from George, and come with an additional reflectors. with a choice of 10k, 14k, 20k.... I'm going 10K bc I want to grow with the closest to real light as possible. Is it just me that the reflectors seems small for the MH???

Next question, has anyone esle bought from these people and how often do you change out the metal halides?

http://www.aquauniverse.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,1025/option,com_phpshop/Itemid,31/

[discuspro]

Is that a magnetic ballast or electronic? I tried to figure it out but I couldn't tell.

[jroescher]

from bottom of the webpage


Comes with 5 year warranty m58 advance ballast- enclosed in aluminum box that is 12 inches wide and 8 inches long


That'd be magnetic.

[josephatmbimortgage]

I was told by vender two weeks ago that it's electronic, and the M58 is just the model number. My friend that got it said it's bad *** and looks professional . I call the vender again manana, just to make sure.

[cpreefguy]

M58 is a magnetic ballast

[josephatmbimortgage]

is that good or bad? Whats the difference?

[apedroza]

You definitely want to go electronic. Most bulbs last longer and start better with e-ballast.

[alton]

Electronic ballast and lamps made for electronic ballast will in time pay for themselves. Not only in extended lamp and ballast life but in air conditioning bills, mag ballast do get hot and as they wear they get hotter, less efficiant and sometimes louder.

[erick]

YA know, for $250, with bulbs, brand new.... Its a great price ;) I run three 250w mh here at home, all with mag ballasts, and I dont hear a thing (wish I could say that for a couple of my protien skimmers :mellow ). I run them 10hrs a day, and the bulbs seem to be lasting quite awhile, w/ 6mos on all three and still going strong. Elec bill is not too bad, I dont think you will really notice the difference anyways, unless your really counting pennies :unsure . Yeah mag ballasts get hot, but 1 of mine w/ the double ballast has a fan in it, and the other sits on a tile floor, no heat problems there either. If your looking to save a few $$, and want brand new, I say thats a nice set up and at the right price, I'd go for it ^_^

[caferacermike]

http://www.hellolights.com/elbalsys.html I was going to tell you that for the same price you can get electronic ballasts from hellolights. But then I saw your link added bulbs.

[cpreefguy]

Honestly, I wouldnt buy that MH setup.
The ballast is inefficient and so are the reflectors. Also, the bulbs it comes with are Catalina brand. Look up some reviews on them, they lose PAR and seem to go out relativly fast. Plus 10k is going to be super yellow.
$250 is cheap, but you get what you pay for.

[apedroza]

Chesk out the fro sale forum I have seen light sfor sale for about the same price.

[prof]

I would definitly get the ARO electronic ballast from hellolights. $90 is hard to beat.

I have been very happy with them. Of course what you have found is a good deal.

If you can do it I would look at HQI/DE setup.

Expect 9-15 months on a 250 watt MH bulb before the spectrum goes to far down hill. It will differ greatly from bulb to bulb. Iwasaki, Radium, Ushio, and XM are all good bulbs. I usually get XM for the price.

[BIGBIRD123]

I USED to use magnetic ballasts. Notice the word"USED'. I ran 2-250w and 1-400w. Now, I run 3-250w ALL on electronic ballasts and my electric bill dropped $110 because of the change. If thats not a good reason for e-ballasts then I don't know what is....If it was my choice, I'd pass on those.

Steve

[josephatmbimortgage]

I know, with shipping and bulbs on hellolights, it was hitting 250.00 each. Two would run 500.00 but I do hear ya on magnetic ballasts....I'm maybe trying to save more money but may cost more in electric bill. LEt here from anyone esle that had or still use magnetic ballast?? Please respond what you think is the pro's and con's of it.

[discuspro]

Joseph, the whole reason why I asked if it was magnetic or electronic because I was thinking the M58 was magnetic. I just wanted people along with myself to recommend an electronic ballast.

As you know I've got a magnetic ballast and I'm fighting for the money to get an electronic, either an ARO or Icecap is what I'm looking at.

By the way does the ARO fire HQI's?

[josephatmbimortgage]

Okay, I just got off the phone with both venders.. and here is the scoop. Aquaruimlights.com charge me for mogul bases upgrade to electronic is 500.00 <--- I'm giving that a middle finger .... and Hqi for 460.00 <--- good but not good enought. Ohh and your right who ever said that the german bulb is more yellow, they sent me a pic and yeap.... those are generic bulbs.

Hellolights worked me out a deal, Two 250W HQI with electronic ballast with shipping and handling at exactly 404.65 <--- DAM!!!!! with XM bulbs, the dealer is using Xm on his tank and the light is measuring 11k rather 10k on the light meter. The mogul base ran the same bc he was working me out a deal. The price , and space it takes up is the winner. I still want to run 4 VHOs and Mogul base takes up tooooo much room. It's on back order and will be ready at the end of the month 4 sure.

Thanks everyone!!

-Joseph

[cpreefguy]

That Hellolights deal sounds great.

[prof]

Too cool, good price.
Don't forget that you need an UV shield of some sort with DE bulbs.

[theedprado]

I have had a couple of customers order from them and have problems. Missing parts, wrong bulbs, etc. And the ballasts are not from advanced magnetic. I recomend PFO HQI SE. Yeah magnetic ballasts put out heat, but you get the most output from HQI ballasts. Electronic ballasts are tempermental and can have problems. check out Sanjay's reef lighting site.

[josephatmbimortgage]

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/lamps-now_1931_2575502

all retro HQI comes with UV protective shield :D Unless your going the cheap route and DYI it yourself

[discuspro]

Is that an ARO ballast in there Joseph? I think I'm going to go with ARO ballast myself in a few days, after this ice storm.

[josephatmbimortgage]

I honestly don't know what is a ARO Ballast ..All I know that it's the deal with electronic ballast. <--- bad with technical terms, sorry, lol

[discuspro]

It's the brand name, most likely it is.

I've been looking for that exact same reflector, but hellolights has had it out of stock forever.

[caferacermike]

I've had beyond excellent experiences with Hellolights and if you read my other threads you'd already know it's hard to impress me. That's why I added the link.

[Beverly]

Joseph, I bought from this guy on e-bay.(aqua Univerise, Aquariumlights.com) He sent me the wrong bulbs, (one broken) and minus one reflector. I e-mailed him and he told me to send it back and he would exchange them. Well, I had issues with that. I asked for him to pay shipping both ways due to his mistake. I never heard back and had to dispute through paypal. Then he reported to pay-pal that I wanted to exchange the system because I had changed my mind. Just not an honest guy, be careful. If I were you, or I could do it all over again, I would have waited. Save the money and get the better lights.

[josephatmbimortgage]

Well the first vender is a place that you can go and buy the lights, They sell them on ebay as bulk buy to bring in more business. Now three people I know baught them from the same vender. I'm always skeptical of ebay so I'm sticking with Hellolights, and 404.63 for two retro HQI with e-ballast...with shipping and bulbs...<---That is sick pricing...I'm happy, so I will join the elite of poeople with metal halides.... my system with run 4 vho - 3 blue and one daylight, and 10k xm bulbs 250w metal halides....and if I can squeeze in my power compacts.... I pray but it does look slime. All these light will give me 8.55 light per gallon. That is figuring 950 Watts ..and with 400 lb live rock I'm guess minusing 29 gallons... My stuff will be glowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Joseph

[Texreefer]

i run a dual PFO magnetic Pulse start ballast on my dual 400 watt setup... i like them

[caferacermike]

I picked up 2 Icecap ballasts here at MAAST and ordered 2 of the $29 250w DE bases and reflectors, along with 2 Pheonix 14K from Hellolights. That along with 2x 96w PC actinics is 700w on my 75g. About 10wpg. It came out great. They even called me to make sure everything came out alright. That was after I ignored the request for feedback email. I figured the email was a mass generated thing that didn't matter. They called and asked if I was not satisfied, if that was the reason for not answering it.

[brewercm]

Try this place out also. I used these electronic ballasts from them and really liked them. The price per kit would put you around $320 including the bulbs it comes with or you can change bulbs out for a little more.


http://oceanencounter.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=OE&Product_Cod e=E2R&Category_Code=EVMHR

[josephatmbimortgage]

I'm going with HQI bc it saves on space and come with a UV shield. With Xm 10k bulbs and shipping. I 'm not going mogul base bc it's way too big. Thanks for looking out though.

-Joseph