MH ballast

[Yanir34]

Hello everyone,
I'm setting up a new MH system above my tank.
it will be 2 Hamilton 400w 14,000k bulbs.
The best Ballast that I could find ,Is lumatec electronic dimmable.
It have super-lumen option , that is more relevant for Radium 20k bulbs for my understanding.
dose this ballast will do the job with the Hamilton bulbs ?

 

[Chrisv.]

IDK about with the Hamilton bulbs, but I did love this ballast with my 400W radiums back in the day.

 

[Bpb]

It’ll do fine. I used that ballast with Hamiltons and it performed flawlessly. I used the standard wattage. No super lumens

 

[Yanir34]

It’ll do fine. I used that ballast with Hamiltons and it performed flawlessly. I used the standard wattage. No super lumens

thanks for your reply dude (:
I have read that activation of RADIUM 400w at super lumen actually gives better look and better grow of the SPS.
about the Hamilton 14k ,got you....standard 400w mode

 

[Bpb]

thanks for your reply dude (:
I have read that activation of RADIUM 400w at super lumen actually gives better look and better grow of the SPS.
about the Hamilton 14k ,got you....standard 400w mode

They changed the formula/design for the 400 watt some years back. As I understand it, overdriving modern 400 watt radiums is actually pretty dangerous. @jda can clarify/confirm if he sees this.

 

[Chrisv.]

They changed the formula/design for the 400 watt some years back. As I understand it, overdriving modern 400 watt radiums is actually pretty dangerous. @jda can clarify/confirm if he sees this.

Interesting. Didn't know this. I still have these ballasts and some lumen arc 3 in storage. One day.

 

[Justdrew]

I have used both 250 watt and 400 watt radium with the Lumatek Ballast in the past. I used SL for the 250 watt and I used the standard 400 watt setting with the 400 watt bulb. The 400 watt on regular setting looked better to me, but not many tanks need that punch. I had a 100 gallon "cube" I was using it on.

 

[A. grandis]

Yes, Lumatek is a great ballast!! There is absolutely no problem to use it with Hamilton bulbs! 400W Hamilton bulbs do great with either M59 magnetic or most good electronic ballasts (no need for super lumen setting)!! Gotta love the 14Ks. Cheers!

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello everyone,
I'm setting up a new MH system above my tank.
it will be 2 Hamilton 400w 14,000k bulbs.
The best Ballast that I could find ,Is lumatec electronic dimmable.
It have super-lumen option , that is more relevant for Radium 20k bulbs for my understanding.
dose this ballast will do the job with the Hamilton bulbs ?

Any ballast will kick start a MH tube.

They just need an HV kick to get started.

If you're going down the old fashioned road with MH, everything else is just icing, a bit like folks selling vinyl discs as they 'sound better''

I'd buy a $20 ballast from the local electrical wholesaler.

 

[Yanir34]

Yes, Lumatek is a great ballast!! There is absolutely no problem to use it with Hamilton bulbs! 400W Hamilton bulbs do great with either M59 magnetic or most good electronic ballasts (no need for super lumen setting)!! Gotta love the 14Ks. Cheers!

Thanks for the reply !
What about operating Radium 20k in super lumen mode , with this ballast ?
is there any difference between new radium bulbs to the old one ?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Thanks for the reply !
What about operating Radium 20k in super lumen mode , with this ballast ?
is there any difference between new radium bulbs to the old one ?

Super lumen mode is just advertising speak for we take your dollars and you give them to us.

Honestly, a MH bulb just needs a kick start, any ballast will do the job so save your dollars and buy a $20 ballast off ebay.

I have a Masters degree in Electronic Engineering and design, and I just cant believe the nonsense that is sold to reef tank owners.

Seriously, dont buy this hype.

 

[mtraylor]

I used the lumatek 400w mh ballast on my reefs when I was using MH's back in the day. I used radium 20k bulbs. Loved this ballast. It draws allot of wattage to fire the bulbs and then levels out. Extended the life of bulb usage compared to other ballast i used. Mine didn't have the sl option.

 

[mtraylor]

Oh I tried Hamilton 14k, ushio 10k, and the aquamax 14k which was very similar to radion spectrum at over leass than half the price. Was an ok bulb, but only lasted half the time of radio bulb, sonit was a wash most of the time and they were not as reliable

 

[djf91]

Super lumen mode is just advertising speak for we take your dollars and you give them to us.

Honestly, a MH bulb just needs a kick start, any ballast will do the job so save your dollars and buy a $20 ballast off ebay.

I have a Masters degree in Electronic Engineering and design, and I just cant believe the nonsense that is sold to reef tank owners.

Seriously, dont buy this hype.

This post sounds like nonsense. @jda can speak more on this, but different ballasts definitely fire different bulbs in different ways. That was the name of the game back in the day: select the bulb/ballast combo that best suits the spectrum you desire. Selecting super lumens will over drive the bulb and will result in greater intensity and likely a different spectrum from the bulb. I’m over driving my Radium bulbs with old PFO ballasts and I get much more par and different spectrum.

 

[Yanir34]

This post sounds like nonsense. @jda can speak more on this, but different ballasts definitely fire different bulbs in different ways. That was the name of the game back in the day: select the bulb/ballast combo that best suits the spectrum you desire. Selecting super lumens will over drive the bulb and will result in greater intensity and likely a different spectrum from the bulb. I’m over driving my Radium bulbs with old PFO ballasts and I get much more par and and different spectrum.

is it possible to overdrive the Radium with the lumatek , and get better results like the old days ?

 

[djf91]

is it possible to overdrive the Radium with the lumatek , and get better results like the old days ?

It might be, but over driving bulbs can sometimes be dangerous. People would say I’m taking a gamble by over driving these new generation 400 watt Radium metal halide bulbs. However, the 250 watt Radium’s are still meant to be over driven and actually end up getting ~330 watts. This might be something to consider.

Heres an old tank that used lumateks with 400 watt Radium’s. Again these were likely the older generation Radium 400 watters.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/161-tank-of-the-month

 

[mtraylor]

The lumatek ballast for 400w bulb old school would run above 430watts for the 20k radium bulb and over 450w on that aquamax bulb I spoke of earlier. That's why that bulb didn't last as long I think. It would get up there pretty higj

 

[PeterErc]

Sanjay tested many combos of halide ballast. Just shows it’s not all the same I am not sure how revelant the info is since LED ruined the hobby and you can’t get the good stuff. google searches will bring up more results.

Spectral Analysis Of 400w Lamps: XM, Radium, Osram And Sunmaster, PFO

Sanjay and Tim update our readers on the spectral output of these bulbs along with thoughts on each.

reefs.com

 

[mtraylor]

:yawning-face:

 

[mtraylor]

Here is a good link as well from old school. To take a peek at MH info for those whom are actually still using it. Sanjay's data for ballast's is still out there on other forums. Not sure if I can post here or not.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/sj/index.php