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Re:T8 Ballast



Victor wrote:

The T-8 ballasts at Home Depot are 0.90 ballast factor while these ones
are
1.3 ballast factor which makes it more efficient (not energywise, but
output
wise) and more expensive.

Ballast factor is a measure of the actual lumen output for a specific
lamp-ballast system relative to the rated lumen output measured with a
reference ballast.

So the higher the  ballast factor the more lumens will be output.

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The ballast factor is not a fixed thing, for each ballast. It is unique
for every lamp ballast combination. If you change the number of lamps or
length of lamps or the way you wire up the lamps to the ballast outputs,
the ballast factor will change. In the case of that ballast you can get
a ballast factor of anywhere from about .75 to 2.5. If you use 32 watt
lamps and two ballast outputs per lamp you get about a 1.5 ballast
factor. This means that 2 lamps would provide enough light for a
medium-high light tank. The main problem with doing this is you void the
UL insurance on your ballast when you do this. You cannot get 3 lamps on
working on one ballast with that ballast that will deliver a 1.5 ballast
factor with each lamp. You can just leave one lamp out and that will
increase the ballast factor to 1.08. Still not enough light for a high
light tank.

That ultralux ballast looks like a good bet to me and so do the lamps.
The company has been around for a while and I have heard no complaints.
3 lamps would be enough for a high light 55 gallon tank. You have to
understand that you won't get a 1.3 ballast factor with every lamp
combination. If you use T12 lamps the ballast factor will drop
significantly. Even so, the ballast must be higher powered than the 112
watt 4 x 32 watt ballast. 

Wayne