old 400w bulbs

[Ryan7]

Anyone have an old 400w bulb that still works, 10000K or higher?
will pay small amount!


thanx

[Bryan]

What did you need the bulb for?

[Ryan7]

have a hydroponic ballast, not sure of the brand, want to see if it can fire up at 10000 K, some can, some can't.

[Bryan]

I have an old Ushio 10K, but it is quite old and finicky. It may fire up or not even with the right ballast.

Do you have any idea what the ballast is, most hydroponic ballasts are HPS or MH. Does the ballast have an ignitor and a cap or a cap only.

Ushio bulbs will fire up under a HPS ballast, and for that matter some will argue it's better for the bulb.

[Ryan7]

oh, It is definitely a MH ballast and as far as I can tell, cap only. Will this work?

Plese tell me more about running HPS ballasts with these bulbs?


thanx

[Bryan]

I don't have anything in front of me but if you search radiums on reefcentral, there is some lengthy threads on radium and ushio bulbs and the ballasts they run on. Because many of the 10k bulbs are European they apparently will run under a HPS ballast and supposedly last longer. I know I did fire up the Ushio with the 430 watt Son Agro HPS and it started faster and with less flicker than the 400 watt MH, As expected it also burned brighter and whiter.

[Ryan7]

thanx, I'll check tht out

[Ryan7]

couldn't find topic on reef central, but did find the brand name of ballast I have.

made by Brite CO. 400w MH

will this power up a 10000K bulb?

[Bryan]

Yes, but some 10K bulbs will start and run better under specific ballasts they were designed for. Problem is trying to find the correct ballast for the bulbs as many are renamed and repackaged so we have no idea who actually made them. But to reiterate, the 400 MH you have should have no problems with any of the 10k bulbs except a double ended bulb which is a completely different animal.

[Ryan7]

Had to add: The ballast I have is a BRITE PRO M59 MH, can this still run a 10k bulb. if so..

Which bulb would you suggest I try?