Is my ballast my lighting problem?

So a while back i purchased a 150W Metal Halide fixture from fishneedit.com

It had a stock 10k bulb i hated and replaced with a 14k Phoenix which i heard great reviews. This light is only over a 40 gallon tank by the way. Recently I was at Barrier Reef Aquariums (a reef/fish store) in Renton WA that is unbelievably awesome. They were doing a customer appreciation sale and I picked up a few new fish Ill have to post pics. But basically i was looking at their tanks which were lighted by a 150W MH fixture with the exact same doubled ended HQI Pheonix bulb. I couldnt believe the color compared to mine.

Instead of having a crisp white/blue color, mine is more of a tinted purplish color and really does not seem to brigthen the tank up nearly as much as the 10k. Its like less bright than the crappy 10k I had before and less crisp/more purplish than the Barrier Reefs tanks. The worker their told me that I might have a ballast that isnt that good? I didnt think ballasts affected things as long as they were rated correctly. I checked on the bottom and all it says is a HID ballast. From my searching I have seen that HQI bulbs require an HQI HID ballast. Is this true? and is this why my lighting isnt as nice as all the other pheonix bulbs i have seen?

 

The ballast is the problem, it just doesn't provide enough energy to the bulb. Try and find a higher quality ballast. I would suggest talking to the LFS to get a good suggestion or at least a look at their ballasts so you can see what to get.

 

thats crazy!!!! Honestly pisses me off a bit. Bought everything thinking this was perfect and find out that my ballast isnt enough? haha. I mean so how do we know for sure that this is the problem?

 

You would need a meter to test the current from the ballast or another ballast. Fishneedit is a decent entry level supplier but I would not use their lighting on anything but a refugium or FOWLR tank. I do use a 2X24W T5HO on my refugium.

 

well I honestly trust your opinion so if you think its the ballast I will see what I can do about selling mine on craigslist and hopefully try and find a new one.

 

Hmm...I was going to get 2 of the 250w version from Fishneedit. Maybe not any more? Is this just the dud of the bunch or do you think they are all made this way?

2in10, what halide pendent would you suggest as a better lamp?

 

LOL just about any major brand. Stay away from Jebo though.

 

I was also thinking of getting one of there MH/T5 fixtures but now I dont think I want too. Is this normal or out of the ordinary?

 

i dunno, but i just feel like mine doesnt have the right color/brigthness from other phoenix 150W i have seen.

 

Steve, is it true though that you need an HQI HID ballast and not just an HID ballast for a HQI Bulb/fixture?