Hello everyone, I currently have 2 IC 430's running my 4 46.5'' T12 VHO's, only after I just purchased brand new bulbs last month have I decided about doing a lighting upgrade, I want to add another 2 bulbs, I could stick with the VHO set up but would need another ballast, so I figure why not just swap over to the newer T5 set up, lower wattage, longer life, and a larger bulb selection right? My questions are

1. Can I properly run 3 48''' T5 HO bulbs on each IC 430?
2. Does anyone have knowledge about "Overdriving" bulbs like Reefgeek has?

I want to maximize the room I have in my canopy for mucho ligthing if you know what I mean.

Yep, you can drive 3 on each ballast. They will be overdriven already.

So is there anything special about the retro kits that reefgeeks are selling with the 89W bulbs? Or is it just the configuration of how many bulbs per ballast? In other words are the ballasts identical? How does that ballast know to "Overdrive" the bulbs? Is it similar to ohm's with speakers just increasing the resistance for more power output?

Can you post a link to that retro kit? I didn't see it poking around the site. The 430 should drive 3 bulbs at 80w each if I understand correctly. I DO know overdriving T5s will wear them out much faster.

Yeah not a problem,
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/IceCap/SLR_Retrofit_Kits/48_inch__4x54W_SLR_T5_Very_High-Output_Retrofit_Kit_w!_Bulbs_by_IceCap

I just want to run 6 bulbs off two ballasts, and use the correct size bulbs.