Help with coralife mini aqua light...

tonyg

Reefing newb
Greetings,
I've got this guy for a fudge light on the back of my biocube hqi:

Aquarium T-5 Fluorescent Light Fixtures: Coralife Mini Aqualight T-5 Dual Lamp Fixture

This is my second one. The first one lasted for about 6 months before it went dark. At first when I tapped on it the lights came back on for a few minutes, then went back off again. I didnt want to mess around so I just ordered a whole new fixture. The new one went dark in less than 2 weeks. Same thing, I tapped on it, it came back on, then went out again shortly.I bought new bulbs for it, they lasted just under a month. There are no signs of water or corrosion damage. When testing the lights I noticed that the bulbs were getting really hot near one end of the connection.

Any ideas on what might be causing these to fail?
Or any suggestions for a different light for the fudge? (has to be a similar size, and able to be mounted to the back of my biocube)

Thanks in advance.
 
With t5 lights in general, is there a sure fire way to tell if a bulbs burnt out or if there is a fixture problem? Ive noticed dark bands twards the ends of the bulbs, does this mean they are bad?

If your fixture has multiple bulbs and one burns out, will the other one turn off as well?
 
Could issues like that cause the bulbs to burn out prematurely? I have some electronics experience, but none with lighting. I am still waiting for a response from the manufacturer, to see what they might suggest. I find it very odd that i have the same problem on 2 of the fixtures.
 
A bad starter could cause bulbs to go bad prematurely. Seems like many people have had problems with this fixture based on the reviews.

Depending on how the fixture is built, one bulb going out could cause the other one to not ignite.

I would definitely wait on a response from the manufacturer before trying a DYI fix. If you do have to go that route, post pics and we can try to walk you through it.
 
I first sent an email to the company, after waiting 5 days for a response, I called. The nice lady at their tech support sent me 2 new fixtures. We shall see how long these ones last.

Thanks for the advice!
 
UGH! One of the replacements they sent me has failed all ready! I find this crazy. Could these fixtures really be that bad? I feel like I have to be doing something wrong, but they are lights, they stay dry and free of corrosion. I leave it on 24 hours as recommended by the manual. I have it plugged into a gfi outlet, the same that the rest of my tank electronics are hooked up too. Could the problems have anything to do with that? I'm at a loss.

Unless they keep sending me replacements, I'm going to have to find different lights for the back of my biocube.
 
Back
Top