phoenix bulb on galaxy ballast

tibob32 · 12/21/2009, 12:13 PM

I know the bulbs/ballast combinations are important. I'm considering buying a DE phoenix 250w to be powered by a galaxy ballast 250W. What results should I expect? Would I be better off waiting for the new select-a-watt ballast which has an "HQI" mode?

Thanks

bkoo29 · 12/21/2009, 12:35 PM

it all depends on how big is your tank and what you are keeping? is it a sps or lps? alot of factors come into play when it comes to lighting.

nikon187 · 12/21/2009, 01:24 PM

size of the tank has nothing to do with how the bulb will look on the HQI galaxy ballast. The pheonix is made to be run on a hqi ballast so it will run fine.

homeboyreefer · 12/21/2009, 06:32 PM

galaxy is an electronic ballast, thats the combo i run check my tank you can see pics of the exact combo on a lumenmax elite pendant. I think it is not bad at anything yet i don't think it is very good at everything also, growth and color is decent, neither is great, one thing that it doesn't really have is very much 420 spectrum. but it is hard to find better de bulbs, in hindsight if you haven't bought your fixture yet i would just get se bulb and go with 400w galaxy ballast with radium, best standalone bulb combo i have seen in real life, wayyyyyyyyy nicer then what i have, i feel the phonenix washes out the color. Dont get me wrong its one of the only two choices i think you have in de that is nice, the other being the ushio 20k, but i've heard that less growth but a lil better color. Another option that i was toying with was the evc 20k bulb which i heard is great color but quality is a crapshoot. i'm changing over to t5s fwiw as i think that i've reached the peak of what i can acheive with my tank running these lights.

12/21/2009, 12:13 PM	#1
tibob32 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 550	phoenix bulb on galaxy ballast I know the bulbs/ballast combinations are important. I'm considering buying a DE phoenix 250w to be powered by a galaxy ballast 250W. What results should I expect? Would I be better off waiting for the new select-a-watt ballast which has an "HQI" mode? Thanks

12/21/2009, 01:24 PM	#3
nikon187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Edmonton Alberta Posts: 4,717	size of the tank has nothing to do with how the bulb will look on the HQI galaxy ballast. The pheonix is made to be run on a hqi ballast so it will run fine. __________________ ----------------- Current Tanks: New 210 custom 84 x 24 x 24, 60g sump, SWC 250 extreme with bubble blaster 5000, 2 vortech mp40, 2 vortech mp10, 12 T5, Water blaster 5000, warner marine bio pellets, 60g clownfish cube, red carpet anemone with a 25g sump,SRO octopus 1000sss, 250w radium, lumenarc large.

12/21/2009, 12:35 PM	#2
bkoo29 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Irvine Posts: 670	it all depends on how big is your tank and what you are keeping? is it a sps or lps? alot of factors come into play when it comes to lighting.

12/21/2009, 06:32 PM	#4
homeboyreefer Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 212	galaxy is an electronic ballast, thats the combo i run check my tank you can see pics of the exact combo on a lumenmax elite pendant. I think it is not bad at anything yet i don't think it is very good at everything also, growth and color is decent, neither is great, one thing that it doesn't really have is very much 420 spectrum. but it is hard to find better de bulbs, in hindsight if you haven't bought your fixture yet i would just get se bulb and go with 400w galaxy ballast with radium, best standalone bulb combo i have seen in real life, wayyyyyyyyy nicer then what i have, i feel the phonenix washes out the color. Dont get me wrong its one of the only two choices i think you have in de that is nice, the other being the ushio 20k, but i've heard that less growth but a lil better color. Another option that i was toying with was the evc 20k bulb which i heard is great color but quality is a crapshoot. i'm changing over to t5s fwiw as i think that i've reached the peak of what i can acheive with my tank running these lights.