Thoughts on M57 and M58 Ballast

[mathew26]

I have a chance to get some of these ballast for a really good price and was wondering what your thoughts were on these. i am not that familiar with them so any feed back would be appreciated. They will be 250 watt ballast

 

[Troylee]

there great ballast but there probe start meaning the selection of bulbs you can fire with them are limited..... xm's and a couple others....

 

[mathew26]

Thanks for the help i was told by a LFS that i can fire Reeflux bulbs with them and they seem to be pretty decent bulbs.

 

[Troylee]

thats a negative......
quote from hello light's.....


12,000K Reeflux - 250W


Item Code: RLSE25012


ReefLux is the first true 12,000K full spectrum metal halide bulb to be offered to the aquarium market. Other manufacturers claim to offer a 12000K lamp but that is just a marketing number of their best attempt to offer a full spectrum 12000K lamp. This is why they have a yellow or orange appearance and need to have some kind of fluorescent actinics to balance it out. Generally the more yellow or orange a bulb the more PAR the bulb will produce. ReefLux offers you the highest PAR rating without having to flood your aquarium with high powered fluorescent blue bulbs.
“We recommend that Reeflux bulbs should be run with electronic metal halide ballasts or pulse start magnetic ballasts. Probe start magnetic ballasts will not fire Reeflux lamps properly, which could lead to difficulties with the bulbs. The Reeflux lamps are pulse start. Probe start ballasts may ignite the lamp, however the drawbacks are shorter life, color variation between lamps, a shift in color over time, and low efficiency. Our Reeflux lamps require an ignitor to fire throughout its life cycle.”