Halide hqi Ballast question for de bulb fixture

[Hockeypunk1]

I have an oddysea 250 watt de with t5 fixture I have been been using. I am very happy with my results but I'm wondering what difference it would make if I upgraded to the luxcore selectable ballast. What is accomplished by over driving the bulbs with more watts? I use a phoenix 14k de bulb. The oddysea comes with an electronic ballast that seems to be working well. I'm just wondering if my results could be better.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

The difference is about 30 watts, you may notice a slight difference in brightness and a tad bit more par from overdriving a Halide bulb. The possible downside is reduction in the bulbs useful life span.

 

[Hockeypunk1]

The difference is about 30 watts, you may notice a slight difference in brightness and a tad bit more par from overdriving a Halide bulb. The possible downside is reduction in the bulbs useful life span.

Thanks! Sounds like it's not completely necessary. My thoughts were based on it being a cheaper ebay ballast that it might not be pushing the halide to its true potential. I can't really complain because the light looks great and my corals are all happy and growing. Just looking for any little thing that could give me an edge. I heard that the ballast makes the light and the replacement cost of the oddysea ballast is around $55. It does seem well made for the money, it doesn't get hot and it is very quiet.