400 watt electronic ballasts

[Joshua]

Sorry I've not been around for a while, what's the good word on 400 watt electronic ballasts lately? I'm a huge IceCap fan, but they're quite a bit more $$ than the rest. For some reason I recall disliking CoralVue (maybe it was just the bulbs?), how are they doing for the 2009 models?

[mikedelgado]

I use those ballasts with 12 reeflux bulbs. So far good luck with them. I was at austin aqua farms this weekend and they had many of those ballasts going

[Joshua]

Do they seem to run the lamps around the same brightness as other ballasts? How old are your lamps? I may get one of each, because I'm a rebel and want to see the differences over time.

[mikedelgado]

I dunno. I had 250 watters before. they whoop those. In hindsight I wish I had bought one icecap to see if there is a difference. 2 of the ballasts I have are dimmable with a knob, which is too cool. I dont think they make those anymore. probably not as reliable. mine havent blown up yet though.

[Bill S]

I like Coralvue, and their support. I've had a few ballast problems - a 400w replacement came in just today. While I've had some problems, they REALLY stand behind their product. They sent me a new one, and I'll just send the old one back.

[Joshua]

Thanks for the info Mike.

Bill, how many problems have you had and how old were they when they occurred? Just the one ballast that had problems? How many others do you have that haven't had problems?

[Bill S]

I started with 4 of the old silver aluminum ones. 2 failed, and a third was noisy. Being honest, these were purchased used, and were kept in the same enclosure as the tank. When I bought them, I put them outside under the eaves, so that they had plenty of air, no salt and no water.

Coralvue replaced 3 of them for me, at cost, with the new red/purple ones. They had some saltcreep on them, so I can't really complain. I've since replaced 2 of the 3, and one of them twice. It's cost me shipping one way. Some of the early red/purple ones appeard to have a wiring short - nothing dangerous, they just wouldn't fire. The newer ones - with fans - seem to be better. But, the most recent one to fail was one with fans - and the fans had quit.

Like I said, the customer service has been just plain outstanding. In this hobby, that's hard to find. I'll take an imperfect product with perfect support, anyday.

[Joshua]

Man that is a lot of problems. Thanks for the info and explanations.

[bimmerzs]

I would go with the Icecap or EVC ballast myself.

Cheers,