Opinions on MH Ballast

[hogan]

Ok I'm gonna add MH to my tank.

Anyone care to share an opinion between these two ballast manufactures.

ICE CAP or Reef FANATIC.

Price wise I can get a reef fanatic+bulb+etc for the price of the ICE CAP ballast. But currently I"m running ICE CAP VHO and like the low heat etc.

 

[hogan]

Don't everyone jump in at once.

IceCap appears to be the techno leader but they are both priced similar in new retail.

However this ReefFanatic 175 is only $60 but not from a retailer.

Further more the reeffanttic is 175watt and for $115 I can get a 250 watt ice cap.

Im guessing on the 55 corner (which is fairly deep) a 250 would be better anyways.

 

[Len]

Here's my "non-answer" Both are very nice and you can't go wrong with either. Their performance is on par with one another, and both should be comparably "cool" (MH electronic ballasts run hotter then VHO electronic ballasts, but definitely cooler then MH tar/mag ballasts). The Icecap 250 needs to be wired up a little more then the RF, but it is also more compact. For a 55 corner and a single halide, go with the 250W IMO.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

My 2 year old Icecap has been acting flakey lately. It refused to fire the bulb. My husband took it apart last week and tested all the wires. One seemed to be showing no current but after some time, it was fine. Strange. He rewired and we retested it and it fired the bulb. Next day it wouldn't fire the bulb again. Eventually I turned it back off, wiggled the connections, then tried again and it was fine. It seems as if the problem is where the cord for the pendant plugs into the ballast. One of the wires going to that connection seems to be loose. Thankfully the Icecap carries a 3 year warranty.

Just wanted to share my experience so far with the Icecap. Up until last week, no problems.

 

[hogan]

OK if both are similar quality and I'm going to continue to run the VHO and just want the halide to be able to have some clams and hard corals then is the RF going to be a nice inexpensive addition or I'm I going to end up wishing I had the 250 (it seems everyone is always upping to the next power level).

 

[Len]

With VHOs, the RF 175W should be fine. FWIW, I've stepped down to 250W from 400W for my 176 gallon tank.

 

[DapperDan]

I would go with Icecap, I never even heard of Reef Fanatic.

 

[Len]

Sanjay says RF is quite good from a performance standpoint. RF used to be a major retailer but now is just a distributor/wholesaler . I think they were outcompeted by the likes of Marine Depot. Anyhow, they are bringing in some of their own stuff now.