HQI 250 watt 10K bulb sizes

[LanceHix_1]

Hello, 1st post ever, question has anyone ran into HQI 250 watt 10K bulb sizes varying enough that they did not fit in the ballast? I have two double ended Metal how ballasts, order one replacement bulb in Oct, it fit fine, the 2nd went out, order same light from same place reeftanklight.com, it is a little too long (just a few millimeters) they are tell me to adjust my ballast? Which is no simply task with my built-in tank. Anyone encountered this issue?

[Rob]

:welcome: to Talkingreef, i wish i could help, but i have never used HQI bulbs.
but i will say i haven't heard of this before..

[George]

Welcome!

I use HQI bulbs and some of the mounting sockets are different than others. The new bulb is the same manufacturer and type as the bulb it's replacing? Sometimes the socket clips are a bit difficult to get the bulb in and out.

If you do have to adjust, there are usually just a couple screws on the socket clips that you can loosen and slide the clip a few mm.