Metal Halide ballast

[DevilBoy]

I will be purchasing my MH/T5 combo fixture soon. And i have a question before i spend the money on the fixture. I called Jason at Premium Aquatics and asked him if this fixture comes with a magnetic or electronic ballast. He told me i had the choice of either and the price for the fixture would be the same for either ballast. So my question is which one should i chose the electronic or magnetic ballast. and why whats the differences? pros? cons?

Thanks

[Wiskey]

I far prefer Electronic ballasts for a Mogul type setup, they don't run the bulbs as hard, you can run any bulb in it (Probe or Pulse start) they run cooler not waisting power heating themselfs up and the bulb life is reported to be 30% longer.

However the Magnetic setup would burn the bulbs slightly brighter, though with your tank, and 250's with the T5's you don't need it any brighter.

If you are going with HQI bulbs then,.... I don't know, the HQI magnetic ballasts sure do increse the output of those bubs, I would probably lean toward magnetic.

Whiskey

[DevilBoy]

thanks whiskey. And yes they will be the 250 HQI's

Any other suggestions?

after i decide what ballast, then i will need to decide on the kelvin rating on the HQIs. I know you like the 10ks whiskey. But i like alittle more of the bluer look. so i may go with the 12k or 14k i dont know. I would prefer a kelvin rating bulb that will give me good growth also. i dont know if the 12k's and higher K bulbs do that.

Also Jason said i would have a choice for the HQI and also the T5 bulbs. i dont even know what choices i have for the T5s. just regular actinic?

[Wiskey]

With HQI's the Phoenix 14K's are a nice crisp ice blue bulb that have a decent par rating, especially on a HQI ballast, in fact these are probably the bulb I would end up using if I ever went HQI.

That's another reason I have not made the change to HQI, I'm not sure they really have a very good 10K with that perfect look I like, if they do I've never seen it.

Whiskey