400W metal halide ballast recommendation

[jonnydilger]

It would appear that my 8-year-old 400W MH ballast is kicking the can... looking for a recommendation on a new one. I honestly know nothing about these - dimmable, electronic/magnetic, etc, etc. Not really sure what additional ballast accessories I should look for or which company is the most preferred (IceCap, Lumatek, CoralVue, Blue Wave, Vertex, Galaxy)... Can someone educate me and supply recommendations? I'm most interested in performance.

Bulb is a 400W Hamilton 14k operated through a IceCap timer, with Ecoxotic supplemental LED Stunner strips (only for nighttime supplementation after halide is off).

Thanks!

[jonnydilger]

I think I'm leaning toward the Lumatek, multi-wattage, dimmable 250/400 ballast... anyone have experience with this? Any true advantage to the multi-wattage system when I'm already running a 400W bulb? Any real difference in wattage intake between these competitors?

Recommendations welcome...

[jonnydilger]

bump

[ridetheducati]

The Lumatek is a good ballast capable of running the Hamilton with no problems.

[patekphilippe]

lumatek or galaxy either one u can go 250 or 400

[James404]

Love my lumateks, been running 3 of them with 0 problems for quite a while now. Definitely recommend them.

[jonnydilger]

Thanks for the recommendations... went with the Lumentek, Dimmable, Multi-wattage. A question, though... is the dimmable feature a turn knob on the ballast or is this only achieved by turning the ballast output from 400W down to 250W? Or, is the dimmable option just output wiring that I need to hook up to a dimmer switch?

[ridetheducati]

It will not dim your MH bulb.

[jonnydilger]

It won't? Then I suppose I'm confused what this feature does?

[zigzag1]

I have the Lumatech 250/400 also and very happy with it. It lets you select one of either 250W, 275W, 400W, or 440W basically. It is a selectable switch type knob, not infinitely variable. So you can run your 400W bulb at 400W or a little brighter at 440W basically. Some would choose to run it at 400W for the first half of the bulb life and at the higher wattage for the second half of the bulb life. That's what I do anyway. JMTC & GL!

[jonnydilger]

Thanks a ton, zigzag - lumatek ballast has been ordered along with a Radium 20K bulb (thought I would give it a try)! Much appreciated!

[ridetheducati]

Thanks a ton, zigzag - lumatek ballast has been ordered along with a Radium 20K bulb (thought I would give it a try)! Much appreciated!

Ensure that the nipple is up on the Radium, otherwise the color will be extremely blue.

[BlueDartReefer]

Thanks for the recommendations... went with the Lumentek, Dimmable, Multi-wattage. A question, though... is the dimmable feature a turn knob on the ballast or is this only achieved by turning the ballast output from 400W down to 250W? Or, is the dimmable option just output wiring that I need to hook up to a dimmer switch?

The ballast's are a select-a-watt. I ran my three 400W MH bulbs at 250W for two months to help the coral acclimate from the previous 175W MH's.