BLV and Ushio bulbs ?

[Faisal1976us]

Hi ,,,,

What is the different between BLV and Ushio bulbs ? is it really same ?

[Gary Majchrzak]

I had the same exact question a while back so I emailed Ushio, here is the response they sent me.

Your inquiry was forwarded to me by my colleagues at BLV in Germany. Just to clarify things, BLV is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ushio Inc..

Although they are manufactured at the same factory, the 400W BLV Nepturion 14K lamps are not always the same as the Ushio 14K Aqualites. The European ballasts differ from U.S. ballasts. Since most of Europe has a line voltage of 220V, 50hz and the U.S. is on a 110/120V 60hz, the ballasts that operate those lamps are different. European systems are almost always a pulse start ballast as well that require an igniter of 4kV to 6kV.

American ballasts can either be pulse start or probe start. Probe start systems operate on open circuit voltage to start the lamp and require an extra "starting electrode".

If you run a "pulse start" type lamp on a" probe start ballast", the lamp may ignite just fine for the first few months but later on you will have problems starting the lamp.

The current 14K 400W Aqualite offered by Ushio (5001608) is the same as the BLV Nepturion. It is a pulse start type lamp operated on a M135 ballast.

However, next quarter, we will be introducing a 14K probe start version. The reason is that most U.S. aquariums are using a cheaper probe start M59 ballast.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly and I'll be glad to help you out.

Best regards,

Craig Asato
Product Manager
Ushio America Inc.
Phone: 714-229-3111
Email: casato@ushio.com