ooked everywhere cant find answer please help. MH in a hps?

I was wondering if it will harm my light hood/ballast(sunlight supply micro hood II) if I ran a lesser watt Mh bulb in a hood designed to run a 250 watt hps. I had recieved a SS-II 250 watt hps grow light and it had a metal halide 175 pulse start bulb in it and it worked when I plugged it in. is this ok or is it gonna mess it up??

You can run mh in hps ballast of the same wattage but not vice versa,

Everyone seems to think that you can't but in fact I have tried it myself long time ago after reading it in a book I cant remember at the moment I forgot how to embed a you tube vid but check out the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7fcjsDFOnA

I have a sunlight supply micro hood. It has a built in ballast. I have also heard that you can run Mh with a hps ballast but not Hps on a MH ballast. The hood that i purchased from a private seller had a 175 W pulse start MH bulb in it. The hood itself is designed for hps 250 w bulb. So what I am curious to know is if it will be ok or will it burn out the ballast or bulb. or...if using a smaller watt MH will be ok as like a cross referenced bulb or somthing. I just dont know why the guy would have put the 175w MH instead of the 250 watt HPS it calls for. I for sure dont want to burn my shit up. it works and is bright as hell. Another question I have is are all HPS the same or are there HPS grow lights and HPS plain lights or are they all the same? I'm a cfl'er and this is all new to me using a HID light.

Yes,they have different hps bulbs some that are specifically made for growing spectrum wise....one of my favs is Eye hortilux super hps with enhanced spectrum...and the sun agro with a 30% added blue spectrum...I wouldn't use a bulb of different wattage in a ballast....Just call or email the place you purchased it.....if you bought it at a store..they should replace it.

Its all about the guts of the ballast...
Sometimes this will be possible, sometime its not.
I wouldn't try this until I knew what cap and starter was being used, but that's also because I've wired/rewired 100's of lights and know how to NOT blow up my house.
Bottom line is, safety always needs to be the #1 priority, if your not sure, use ONLY the rated wattage and type of bulb rated for your ballast.

I would say if it IS working nothings going to be damaged...so don't worry too much, but do still question thed ethics of the shop that sold you a hood with lower rated bulb.
Also there is a difference between grow bulbs and standard hps bulbs, however not much. The added spectrum as a benifit.of about 15-25 percent more light at the bulb, which can make a differenced depending on the wattage. At 250w you'll do just fine going to lowes or hd to get one.