Pfo dual mag ballast or @ blueline Eballast?

[darkliteseeker]

IM goin to purchase 2 250 HQI pendants and 10,000k xm bulbs My question is if you had your choice whould you go with the pfo dual mag ballast or 2 blueline eballast and why? I read some where that you cant use xm 10,000k bulbs w/ electronic ballast but champion lighting has them paired

Blueline Eballast
http://www.championlighting.com/prod...cat=539&page=1

PFO coreballast
http://www.championlighting.com/prod...cat=584&page=1

Thank you
Ricky

[darkliteseeker]

Any takers?

T I A
Ricky

[Diver_1298]

The XM bulbs were made with the magnetic ballast in mind. They will work with an electronic ballast but you will get a higher Par value with the PFO hqi ballast than with the electronic one. About 182 ppfd with the pfo and around 115 ppfd with an electronic one. Check out Sanjays reef lighting page.

Jim

[darkliteseeker]

Diver what kind of ballast do you use ?
do you use actinic along with the 20,000k lamps?
have you used the 15,000 k?

Thanks
Ricky

[Diver_1298]

Ricky,
I am using the m58 magnetic ballast with the 20k XM bulbs. I also have a couple of VHO actinic bulbs. I turn the actinic bulbs on in the morning and then turn on the halides in the afternoon.
My wife says it it too blue....... I say it is definitely bluer than the 10k Ushio's I used to have but I was looking for something different anyway.
If you're looking for a high par bulb go with the 10k XM bulbs.(very white) Stay away from the 15k bulbs, they have a lower par value than the 20k's
If you love the color blue and can live with a lower par value than the 10k bulbs go with the 20K's

Jim