[Bryan]

This is a e-mail I received from Sunlight Supply who puts together the bluewave ballasts. Looks like they recommend and use the Pulse Start for the Radiums. I left another e-mail with Perry on the use of a straight S51 400 watt HPS ballast vs a pulse start MH ballast. He seems to know his stuff.

-=Bryan=-

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From an e-mail I received from Sunlight Supply, should help you decide.

>>>Hello Bryan,

Many people do in fact use the SON AGRO ballast for this lamp. It lights because it has an ignitor, being that it is a HPS ballast. There are some problems with this configuration. 1) it shortens lamp life. 2)It causes severe spectral shift in 5-8 months 3) radium says that overdriving the lamp by this much can actually cause the lamp to blow up (I wouldn't worry about that, I've never seen/heard of it happening before).

The fact is that the SON AGRO puts about 70 more watts through the lamp than should be. The Radium lamp is an 'energy saver' and is rated at 360watts. Radium Has said it will not warrant the lamp for the above stated reasons.

The m59 does burn more blue, and the firing is not always consistent.

What radium has told us to use is the m135 ballast. Its a 400w pulse start MH ballast. It does burn more blue than the HPS, but less so than the M59. So far it looks like burning with this ballast will add about 2-3 months to usable lamps life (this is just per a source, and should be verified).

We don't sell the SON AGRO for aquarium use because it is misleading, and has a higher inherent risk. The pulse start is the ballast we use for 400w pulse start lamps.

Regards,

Perry

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