fshfrk58
Aquarium Advice Regular
I am curious if anyone likes or dislikes vertex MH ballasts. Or if anyone has any opinions on some lower priced ballasts that work well. Thanks.
FshFrk58
FshFrk58
I will let you do the research yourself. Take a look at Sanjay's Lighting site. He tested bulbs with different electronic ballasts and then you can see for yourself, in hard #'s, how much difference there is between them. There is a bigger difference in the CCT (color) between the ballasts than there is in PPFD (PAR) output. You probably saw that difference. Looks like the IceCap burns the bulb whiter in your case, but that doesn't mean it's putting out any more PAR.I beg to differ. There definitely is a big difference between electronic ballasts. Check out this thread and you tell me that they don't make a big difference.http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/icecap-ballasts-make-a-big-difference-123596.html
I have one working ballastwise ballast left (The other one blew a hole right through the casing), do you think he would be willing to test out the good one?You won't find info on every ballast made on his site. He only tested what was sent to him. Anyway, I asked him, in person, about the BallastWise ballasts and also the electronic ballasts on Ebay from Hong Kong. He told me what I said above. There is very little difference in performance between ANY electronic ballast.
BTW...what bulbs are you using?
Sanjay said he's done testing bulbs unless something new and exciting comes out. He already tested close to 1,000 diff bulb/ballast combos.
Did you contact BallastWise for a replacement? The VHO ballasts I bought from them have a 3 yr warranty.
How are you liking the Phoenix bulbs? (FWIW, they put out less PAR than the 175w Iwasaki 15k bulbs I use.)