250s bulbs w/ 175w ballast?

[gholtmeyer]

Can I use my old 250w mh bulbs in a 175w mh ballast? I wanting to put this over a frag tank that I am going to use only until I get the display tank set up. Now, this might take a few months before I find the tank, lights, etc.

 

[agsansoo]

I don't see a problem with it, if the bulb fires up. The color might be very blue though.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

it will not give you 250w since it is only a 175 ballast plus you could also blow it out I would not use it..just save yourself the trouble and get a 175 or 150w bulb. It will be plenty on a nano

 

[agsansoo]

How will it blow out the bulb if the bulb is under powered ? I ran a Odyssea ballast that only produced @150w of power on my 250w bulbs for over a year. With no bulb problems.

 

[Kendall]

I have the same over my frag tank. Better colors on the corals than the ones in my display!! 250w 12k bulb fired by a 175w ballast

 

[KathyC]

Can I use my old 250w mh bulbs in a 175w mh ballast? I wanting to put this over a frag tank that I am going to use only until I get the display tank set up. Now, this might take a few months before I find the tank, lights, etc.

No, IIRC you cannot do this without causing damage to the bulb, the ballast or possibly creating a fire hazard.
Bulb & ballast are supposed to match.

I will ask others who are better informed of the details on the 'why part' to chime in.

 

[sanjay]

While you may be lucky to get the 250W bulb to fire with the 175W ballast, the light output and spectrum will not be what it should be. Bulbs are designed to work with certain electrical characteristics (ANSI standards) that will not be optimally met. The end result in the longer term could be a damaged bulb, burned ballast, or even a a catastrophic failure. Just run the right bulb and ballast combination.

sanjay.

 

[seldin]

I had asked that question, when my Aquatinics MH/T5 setup wit 150 MH was built. I was told to run the 250 setup, I would need to upgrade the ballasts and that's all was needed.

Not sure about your setup, but as stated before, better to just run the original intended bulbs.