Problems with Coralife bulbs..

[Adhlc]

I've recently been having some trouble with my light fixture and Coralife bulbs. I have a 20" Fluorescent fixture on top of a 125G (I like the "partially lit" look )

Last week, I decided to try a 10k bulb as opposed to the Hagen 6700k I've had in there. Immediately after putting the new bulb in, it does nothing but flicker. I thought maybe it was a starter issue so I replace that and the bulb began to work as normal. A week or two later I came home and saw that the bulb was almost completely burned out and was very dim. So i picked up a new Coralife 10,000k 18 watt bulb, same as the last one, and a band new AllGlass light fixture. Well this bulb only lasted about 2 hours before it suddenly went out and completely burned out my brand new light fixture. None of the old bulbs, or even the one that was included with the light work, and my room smells as if something was on fire.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any insight as to why this might be happening? I've never had this issue with Hagen, AllGlass, or GE light bulbs before so it would seem that there's some sort of compatibility issue with Coralife Bulbs.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dawnmarie]

If you haven't tripped the breaker, It sounds like an issue with the source not the fixture. After so many bulbs and fixtures I would be looking at the duplex or some connection betweem the outlet and the ballast.
My WAG is , none of the above, It feels like an issue with the ballast.
But if you changed the whole fixture ?
The old mechanic in me say's this feels like two problems.
Did I mention I hate coincidences ?

 

[Adhlc]

Thanks for the reply. The light fixture is plugged directly into a timer which is plugged directly into the wall. Still not sure why this happened.

 

[deeda]

It would be helpful to know exactly which light fixture you are using as well as the recommended bulb size & watts for that fixture.

Also, the original Hagen 6700K bulb, how many watts was it? How about the length of the bulb?

Just trying to understand why the new All Glass fixture is having issues with the Coralife bulbs.

 

[Adhlc]

Both the Hagen and the two Coralife bulbs are 18", 15 watt bulbs. The new fixture, and the old one I am using now are both 20" and take 18", 15 watt bulbs.

The difference between the two fixtures is that the old one has a starter, while the new one I just picked up does not. I thought this may be why the Coralife bulb wasn't working properly.

 

[deeda]

Are they single, double or triple tube fixtures? Are you using T-8 lamp bulbs?

 

[Adhlc]

They're both single tube fixtures, and the bulbs I'm using are T8.

 

[Knowdafish]

ZooMed makes much better quality florescent tubes than Hagen or Coralife! The ZooMed ones last longer too.

 

[deeda]

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you. Seems like you should be able to use any T-8 bulb of the correct length & wattage in any T-8 fixture.

 

[Adhlc]

ZooMed makes much better quality florescent tubes than Hagen or Coralife! The ZooMed ones last longer too.

I tried ordering one through our supplier after the first Coralife crapped out but they weren't in stock

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you. Seems like you should be able to use any T-8 bulb of the correct length & wattage in any T-8 fixture.

Yeah that's why I'm so confused as to why this happened. There doesn't seem to be anything special about the Coralife bulbs.