250w or 400w comparison

[purplegorilla]

So while I am waiting for my 220 to cycle. The lighting system that came with it is not gonna work. I cant' make up my mind which lightings I want to go with. Originally I ordered the PFO solaris G 72" but the guy let me wait for a month and still PFO can't provide the tracking number.

My dilema now is to decide what kind of lighting I want for SPS. Does anyone have a link for the par reading between a 400w mogul vs. 250w DE? I read somewhere and saw that they had the same readings, but not completely sure.

 

[roland jacques]

Yeah, some DE 250s put out more PAR than some 400se. The ballast has alot to do with it. some of those 250 can pull 350 watts plus.
this might help

 

[ouling]

It really depends on the reflector too Trinh. DE are known to have better reflectors and thus better par relatively, despite it must have a protective glass for the UV.

If you get 250W DE then I would definitely recommend the PFO HQI Magnetic ballast, that ballast puts out about 390W of power, so it makes the intensity similar to a 400W with an electronic ballast.

But if you get a PFO HQI 400W ballast, some diamond reflectors, and a good bulb, you can get alot more par than a 250W.

I have the link for ballast/bulb/reflector/lamp wattage comparison at home. I will give you link when I get home.

 

[skriz]

Sanjay's page will give you the best data to compare (roland's post). But, as ouling said, the reflector is more important than the bulb.

buy the lumenarc, lumenmax or lumenbright reflectors to give you the best par.

Also, what colour do you like? If you like a bluer look (20K), then the 400w will be better since it will give you good par at that colour level. The 250w 20k bulbs are quite weak with par levels.

 

[enderg60]

If you can spend the money on power 400w SE on PFO, or HQI balast, in luminarc style reflectors is the way to go.

I actually did the math and for the most part running 2x400w will cost the same as running 3x250w(power and bulb replacement, per year) If you dont mind spending an extra $150ish a year go with 3x400w's

If your worried about heat, just make sure you have a good auto top off system, and a small fan for each bulb and you will be fine.