Coralife EZ Ballast?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had any experience with the Coralife EZ ballast and flourescent endcap setup? I'm thinking of getting one for my custom canopy to go with my MHs. I noticed the "ballast" was just a plug for a wall socket... Any thoughts? observations?

 

[JD'sReef]

Hey Deanstex,
If you do this tell me how they work because I would really like to try one of these as well.

 

[Len]

I've used it and they work. They have a largish plug that powers the unit. It's been a long time since I used them though. For actinic supplementation, most halides will wash out the color prety fast. It's best to go with VHOs.

 

[JD'sReef]

So what would be the most simple way to upgrade my hamilton hood with a 175 and two strips to twin vho's. I want more atinic lightbut feel that it would be to much of a hassle. Should I just wait untill I can get on ballest that will power twin MH's and Twin VHo's?
Thanks Len

 

[Len]

There's no single ballast that will power MH and VHOs. They have systems with multiple ballasts in the enclosure that looks like it's one ballast, but it's really multiple ballasts inside.

To be honest, I don't recall how the Hamilton system is set up. If it's all in a single enclosure, it's arguably too much of an hassle to convert to VHOs. If the halide and fluorsecent portions are in seperate ballast enclosures, however, it's easily switchable by simply swapping out the NO fluorescent ballast with a VHO type (I recommend Icecap).

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Len, do you mean that over time the MHs will wash out the regular fluorescents, or that the fluorescents won't be powerful enough to provide enough blue light to be seen with the MH light? Probably the former...So, I'm assuming that the VHOs are just more resistant to the heat and powerful light of the MHs... :?:

 

[Len]

I meant the latter, actually Regular fluorescents is quickly washed out by halides and you won't see much blue, if it's even noticable. This isn't to say the overall light output isn't increased with NO actinics, but to your eyes, two NO actinics won't look much bluer. VHOs are powerful enough to make a big visual difference.

 

[Anonymous]

So would PCs be just as good, visually, as VHOs?