Metal Halide????

OK so today I received my Coralife Aqualight Pro 48" unit. It's the 150 watt MH unit. Anyways one of the blubs looked perfect out of the box. The other bulb though had a rusty brown look to it. After hooking everything u I turned it on to make sure everything was working. I let the unit run for about 15 mins and noticed the the light in question wasn't putting out the same light as the one that looked good out of the box. The one in question had a yellow look to it rather then the blueish white look that the other light was putting out. After turning the unit off the blub that looked good cooled down pretty quick but the other one took a little longer to cool off, and seemed to be putting out twice as much heat when it was on. Well after turning them off and letting them cool I noticed that the good bulb was clear as can be, but the one in question turned from the rusty brown color to a milky whit color.

So my question is do you think that the bulb is just bad or is it the unit. I emailed the company that I bought it through to see if they would replace the bulb for me. It appeared to me that the good light was probably brand spanking new but the light in question may have been ran during testing at the factory and be ready for replacement already. What do you guys think. Has anybody experienced this before with any of your MH's.

 

I would switch them if the problem continues when you move it to the other socket than its the bulb.If the bulb that looked good before looks bad than its is the fixture.

 

Do the bulbs change color. The one that looked good last night, I looked at it a little better today and its got that rusty brown look to it. I'm thinking maybe it was just a burn in period and eventfully the light I thought was good will give of that same yellow light and turn white. The white discoloration I'm talking about is at each end of the bulb. You know you have each end where the bulb connects and in the center you have the little bubble. The discoloration is on each end of the bubble. Is that normal?

 

That is normal, and you need to give the lights at least 15 to 30 minutes to come on line completely. at first the bulbs will put out somewhat of a yellow light, as they heat up they will correct to the bright white light. does your hood have a fan in it. if so make sure the air movement is not restricted. also if you touched the bulbs with your hands, you will need to wipe off the bulbs with a soft cloth when they are cool to get the skin oil off of the bulb. what is the kelvin rating of the bulbs. are they screw shell or double ended bulbs. are the bulbs if screw shell long or round. also once the light has been turned on and becomes hot, if you turn it off, give it at least 1/2 to 1 hour before restarting to give it a chance to cool down. do not try and restart the bulbs if they are hot. will shorten the life of the bulb or the bulb will not start. hope this helps.

 

Well tonight I ran them for an hour and a half. The good bulb was still blue and the Bad bulb was still yellow. The hood does have a built in fan and I haven't touched the bulbs at all. They are the ones that came with the fixture. (2) 10,000k double ended bulbs. I want to rule out the fixture as soon as I can so I think tomorrow I'm going to switch the bulbs and see what happens. The sooner I rule out the fixture the sooner I can stop worrying and focus on getting the bulb burnt in or haveing it replaced.