Metal halide ?

[BluegrassReef]

I picked up a 2 x 175w 2x96w pc Oddysea fixture for a great price cause the PC ballast needs replacing......My question is this....I had a fellow reefer tell me that even though the ballast says 175w it is actually a 150w fixture and that Oddysea did this for a marketing gimmick to have to buy their bulbs......I am leaning towards this being the truth because all the 175w bulbs DE I have found....and it isn't many are all cheap chinese knockoff.

Can I run a good 150w bulb (Phoenix)....he said it did and it was fine....just looking for some more input


Mike

 

[Troylee]

not sure the truth behind that... i have the 250w version and run a phoenix bulb with out any issues.... you could pull the cover off the ballast and prolly confirm it with a sticker inside the ballast box.... personally i would run the 175's not a 150.. with that being said it will fire either way but either the bulb or ballast will have a very short life if not matched up properly...

 

[BluegrassReef]

Thanks Troy....guess I will just go with the DE 175 chinese bulbs till I can get a better fixture.....I will take the cover off and check it out

 

[Troylee]

doing a little research i found it might be true... people are saying they do just what you want to with no problems.... i found a mod for the 250w version where you change the mosfet for $5.99 not a big deal... my ballast looks different than the one evil did surgery on thou lol.... hmmmm i guess i cant hurt.... im kind of excited if my 250 is only putting out 174w i could run a radium1smile1 i don't care for the phoenix myself....:( i'll have to stick a killowatt meter on mine and check it to see....