150HQI vs 175 Mogul

[Doug]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

150 watt HQI will blow away a 175. the 175's are not a stellar size for MH. I had a 175 for about 6 months, then I upgraded to a 250 watt and it was night and day.

Steve

Steve, would you include the 175w Iwasaki 15k in that mix? Its suppose to be as bright as many 250,s. I have a 150w HQI and I would not say it overly impresses me. At least with the 14k bulb I,m running.

My 175w Ushio 10k bulbs on Icecaps, were as bright if not more, thus I,m thinking something like the Iwasaki would be. Of course I could run the 10k that came with the fixture. Much brighter but not impressive colors.

Another problem I find with the standard 150w HQ fixtures, is their smaller type reflectors. I,m having trouble getting enough spread for my 28in.tank. So again, I think a good 175w bulb in a Lumenarc, would be brighter overall?