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Whats the Main Diff Between MH & MH HQI
- Thread starter ssgibbons
- Start date
Not much.
HQI is a relatively meaningless term - IIRC it's actually a trademark from Osram. Bulbs that need HQI ballasts are usually "German" in nature and/or the double ended bulbs. HQI usually means the bulb is double ended and DE bulbs in 150 and 250W tend to be more efficient than mogul(screw ) type bulbs - however the German 10K's tend to run better on HQI ballasts (I may be wrong but IIRC they need the higher current from what is called a Pulse Start ballast to fire reliably).
HQI is a relatively meaningless term - IIRC it's actually a trademark from Osram. Bulbs that need HQI ballasts are usually "German" in nature and/or the double ended bulbs. HQI usually means the bulb is double ended and DE bulbs in 150 and 250W tend to be more efficient than mogul(screw ) type bulbs - however the German 10K's tend to run better on HQI ballasts (I may be wrong but IIRC they need the higher current from what is called a Pulse Start ballast to fire reliably).
HQI bulbs are usualy double ended but sometimes are mogul socketed. The only MH lamp that has a better PAR rating than a Iwsaki MH 6500 lamp is the osram 10k HQI lamp. They do burn brighter and run hotter than the standard MH lamp, do require a slightly highter current supply and are better lamps for their par "german 10k HQI" output vs power consumption. However they are dosed with iodine and do emit a much higher uv spectrum output and require uv shielding. I feel that is where we are headed in the future for lighting. I have noticed that in the past year or so many people are switching to HQI.
I run 250w Osram 10k HQI setups on IceCaps on all my systems... A very impressive setup. I get almost as much output as I did with the Iwasaki 400w lamp! One problem I have had with this setup is the flickering that is quite common with IceCap MH setups but this was corrected by custom tuning of the ballast to the lamps. You can send them to IceCap with the lamp and they will do this or if you are crafty with electronics the IceCap service dept will tell you how to do it yourself! I do it myself.
I still run actinic lighting with my HQI setups but the actinics were already there. Many don't use the actinics with the HQI lamps as they are more white than the Iwasaki setups. I still like the supplements. Is a nice sunrise and sunset and does fill out the tank color.
Good luck on your selection. Lighting is one of the most expensive and important selections for your reef. You don't want to purchase your lighting solution 2 or 3 times as you conclude what you really want over time!
Randall
I run 250w Osram 10k HQI setups on IceCaps on all my systems... A very impressive setup. I get almost as much output as I did with the Iwasaki 400w lamp! One problem I have had with this setup is the flickering that is quite common with IceCap MH setups but this was corrected by custom tuning of the ballast to the lamps. You can send them to IceCap with the lamp and they will do this or if you are crafty with electronics the IceCap service dept will tell you how to do it yourself! I do it myself.
I still run actinic lighting with my HQI setups but the actinics were already there. Many don't use the actinics with the HQI lamps as they are more white than the Iwasaki setups. I still like the supplements. Is a nice sunrise and sunset and does fill out the tank color.
Good luck on your selection. Lighting is one of the most expensive and important selections for your reef. You don't want to purchase your lighting solution 2 or 3 times as you conclude what you really want over time!
Randall
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by suckair:
<strong>HQI bulbs are usualy double ended but sometimes are mogul socketed. The only MH lamp that has a better PAR rating than a Iwsaki MH 6500 lamp is the osram 10k HQI lamp.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Whare did you find this information.. do you have a line to it I could read? I have never found the OSRAM HQI's used in a test and untill now the only one I have seen tested was the AB HQI DE which blew the same wattage Iwasaki out of the water for PAR. Sence it is easy for me to buy the OSRAM bulbs if you can show me whare ou found this info I would love to read it.
Steve
<strong>HQI bulbs are usualy double ended but sometimes are mogul socketed. The only MH lamp that has a better PAR rating than a Iwsaki MH 6500 lamp is the osram 10k HQI lamp.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Whare did you find this information.. do you have a line to it I could read? I have never found the OSRAM HQI's used in a test and untill now the only one I have seen tested was the AB HQI DE which blew the same wattage Iwasaki out of the water for PAR. Sence it is easy for me to buy the OSRAM bulbs if you can show me whare ou found this info I would love to read it.
Steve
Hey suckair,
I was looking for the Osram 10k HQI for a while now. I guy I know even called them and they sadi or better stated a representative said they don't make HQI at 10k only at 6500k. Could you give me the product number please? I want to try and order them.
Thanks,
Brian
PS. GunNut MickAver is right HQI is the Osram trademark name for MH.
I was looking for the Osram 10k HQI for a while now. I guy I know even called them and they sadi or better stated a representative said they don't make HQI at 10k only at 6500k. Could you give me the product number please? I want to try and order them.
Thanks,
Brian
PS. GunNut MickAver is right HQI is the Osram trademark name for MH.
I am currently in the process of upgrading to a dual 400's so I have been doing some research. I have called Hamilton, Marine Depot, and PFO. HQI ballasts as reported in other posts are European style ballasts that generally use double ended bulbs. There is an actual difference between HQI ballasts and regular US ballasts other than the fact they run double versus single ended bulbs. If you will notice, PFO makes a 400 HQI ballast for a single ended 400 watt bulbs. HQI ballasts have an ignitor actually in the ballast and use more amps than US ballasts. European style bulbs, Osram/Radium, AB, Ushio, don't have internal ignitors like US bulbs. Most of the time, you can get by without the ignitor, but it is a good idea to have one if you plan to run European style lamps.
Despite the fact they use more amps the wattage is the same. It is my understanding that amps can be calculated as watts divided by volts. European voltage is 220 which means the ballast would have required half as many amps to run in europe as in the US. The US uses 110 volts so despite the same wattage, the lower voltage requires higer amperage to run. The cost of higher amperage for an HQI ballast on your electric bill is determined by wattage not amperage, ie you are still running the same wattage bulb.
I have also heard that european style bulbs perform better from a PAR standpoing when ran on an HQI ballast versus a normal US ballast. This is only anecdotal as i have no research to substantiate this.
Despite the fact they use more amps the wattage is the same. It is my understanding that amps can be calculated as watts divided by volts. European voltage is 220 which means the ballast would have required half as many amps to run in europe as in the US. The US uses 110 volts so despite the same wattage, the lower voltage requires higer amperage to run. The cost of higher amperage for an HQI ballast on your electric bill is determined by wattage not amperage, ie you are still running the same wattage bulb.
I have also heard that european style bulbs perform better from a PAR standpoing when ran on an HQI ballast versus a normal US ballast. This is only anecdotal as i have no research to substantiate this.
hi.
I am confused by the voltage thing. HQI ballast that US reef HW stores sell runs on 110V AC. Are you sure the higher amp, lower volt does not apply to the output to the bulb? That is, a HQI ballast generate higher amp but lower voltage than regular MH ballast to drive/ignite a HQI bulb, so you need a HQI ballast to match HQI bulb...
I am confused by the voltage thing. HQI ballast that US reef HW stores sell runs on 110V AC. Are you sure the higher amp, lower volt does not apply to the output to the bulb? That is, a HQI ballast generate higher amp but lower voltage than regular MH ballast to drive/ignite a HQI bulb, so you need a HQI ballast to match HQI bulb...
Having just hauled a 30lb ballast back from europe to run my 1000w ushio 10k properly there are some important differences from what I understand. I'm just a lay person here and wha I learned I learned from getting my damn bulb to fire properly.
"HQI" bulbs can be single ended or dual ended. A lfs I went to in Berlin had both dual and single ended bulbs running on "HQI" ballasts. The difference in the bulb is "HQI" bulbs need and ignitor to fire properly. That's not saying they won't fire but to fire properly they need an ignigtor. So basically a HQI ballast has 3 parts to it instead of the basic 2. They have the ballast, ignitor and the capictor.
Secondly European ballasts run bulbs differently than ours do. Take the 1000w ballast for instance since I am familar with it. I bought a 1000w mh american magnetek ballast from my local hydroponics store. I assumed it would work with the ushio 10k 1000w bulb. I was wrong. The bulb looked dim and green when being run by the american ballast. I investigated the specs on the ballast and the ballast was igniting the bulb around 4 amps. When I looked at european ballasts they were igniting bulbs at around 8 amps. So what does this mean. A european ballast runs roughtly double the amperage through the bulb.
Well to make a long story end. The ballast works great. You can see pics of it at
http://homepage.mac.com/reefsbill2/PhotoAlbum3.html
It's a lovely blue color and my corals seem to like it. To the naked eye the ballast is running the bulb much better because about 1/2 through the warm up sequence for the bulb it looks exactly like it did being run by the american ballast. Confused yet? If so just drop me an email for it's 12:04 am and well i'm plain worn out.
"HQI" bulbs can be single ended or dual ended. A lfs I went to in Berlin had both dual and single ended bulbs running on "HQI" ballasts. The difference in the bulb is "HQI" bulbs need and ignitor to fire properly. That's not saying they won't fire but to fire properly they need an ignigtor. So basically a HQI ballast has 3 parts to it instead of the basic 2. They have the ballast, ignitor and the capictor.
Secondly European ballasts run bulbs differently than ours do. Take the 1000w ballast for instance since I am familar with it. I bought a 1000w mh american magnetek ballast from my local hydroponics store. I assumed it would work with the ushio 10k 1000w bulb. I was wrong. The bulb looked dim and green when being run by the american ballast. I investigated the specs on the ballast and the ballast was igniting the bulb around 4 amps. When I looked at european ballasts they were igniting bulbs at around 8 amps. So what does this mean. A european ballast runs roughtly double the amperage through the bulb.
Well to make a long story end. The ballast works great. You can see pics of it at
http://homepage.mac.com/reefsbill2/PhotoAlbum3.html
It's a lovely blue color and my corals seem to like it. To the naked eye the ballast is running the bulb much better because about 1/2 through the warm up sequence for the bulb it looks exactly like it did being run by the american ballast. Confused yet? If so just drop me an email for it's 12:04 am and well i'm plain worn out.
What I can't understand is the 1000watt Radiums are available in the U.S. but you can't find a bulb to fire them properly.
I even asked the guy at Hellolights.com which ballast to run and he has no idea.
He sells the bulbs, but has no idea how to buy a ballast to run them?
That's a bit like selling DVDs with no DVD players available anywhere in the country.
What I have been able to find out is the Radiums require a ballast capacitor that produces 45 microfarad at 220volts, and an igniter capable of producing 4000v.
Now I just need to find these components to build my own I guess.
John
I even asked the guy at Hellolights.com which ballast to run and he has no idea.
He sells the bulbs, but has no idea how to buy a ballast to run them?
That's a bit like selling DVDs with no DVD players available anywhere in the country.
What I have been able to find out is the Radiums require a ballast capacitor that produces 45 microfarad at 220volts, and an igniter capable of producing 4000v.
Now I just need to find these components to build my own I guess.
John
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