Bulbs and ballast

I just bought a used system. Metal Halide Odyssea(I've read that they're not the best , but that's what came with the system)
My ballast says: 96W
My bulbs are 175W 20,000K

I thought I read the ballast has to match? It works , but not sure if it's proper output.
He said he's never replaced the bulbs so I figure I'll just go ahead and replace them after the tank cycles, and I'm ready for corals.

Also it's a 180 gallon tank. (24" deep)So maybe more wattage is in order. Only Two MH, 4 Actinic, moons.

The fans haven't come on yet. Do they normally run on a thermostat? I haven't had it powered on more than a minute just to see if they work.

 

well they don't have to match. you can run that halides underpowed, usually cities do this on street light to increase lamp life(electricians must find the right difference of watts). but you need to realize your only getting 96 watt output not 175, if that is watt the ballast puts out. its not reccommended to use a different wattage ballast then bulb.

 

Ok thanks.

 

Are you sure the ballast you are looking at isn't the one for the Actinics? Should be 2 seperate ballast if you have MH and Actinics? Anyways if you replace your 175 I would go with a 175 Iwaski 14 K it has the par of a DE 250. Should help with the 24" deep tank

 

I'll bet that's exactly the case. If this is a combo unit with MH and PC's, then there's more than one ballast, and the ballast marked "96W" is the ballast for the PC bulbs. Look for the other ballast and you'll probably find it's the correct one for the MH bulbs.

Good call!

 

Ok , that's probably the case then.
I have a huge black box that must be for the MH and moons . It doesn't say anything on it.