A MH ballast is a MH Ballast. Commercial application MH ballasts are the same as those for reefkeeping. What you will need is a suitable ballast for the bulb you plan to drive, and this is where it gets a little trickier. The most common MH ballast type is those with ANSI numbers starting with M5* (for example, M57 is the 175W version, M58 is the 250W version). M5* ballasts will usually drive any single-ended bulb, but often not optimally - the difference can be very dramatic. The ballast you linked is the common M59. The M8* ballasts are made for double ended, and M13* are pulse start ballasts that some European bulbs prefer.
The above ballast choices have much to do with how the bulbs are initially "fired" (how the initial arc is struck). "Standard" (aka "American") MH bulbs have a probe start in the bulb which faciliates the initial arc. Pulse starts do not have this probe, nor do double ended bulbs. Pulse start ballasts, however, use an ignitor to strike the probeless bulb (most European and the new crop of Asian bulbs are of this design). To be honest, I don't know if DE ballasts have ignitors or not.
Ballasts designed for standard 110V/120V operation can be plugged into the wall.
Of course, there are electronic ballasts too, and the current production ones are very nice. These will fire just about every bulb type, so it's the safest/easiest bet. They'll be about twice the price as a DIY ballast like the one you linked, but they do run cooler, are more efficient, and much easier to use across a spectrum (no pun intended
) of bulbs.
