Coralife PC Fixture

[DMBillies]

I have a 28 watt PC coralife fixture sitting over my refugium and it conked out the other day. I know the bulb is kind of old, so it is likely to be that, but it could be the starter or the ballast. I was wondering if anyone had a square pin 28 watt bulb that I might be able to buy for pretty cheap or borrow so that I can test to make sure it's the bulb and not another component. I hate to spend the money on a new bulb if it's one of the other components (especially the ballast) as the fixture is not really ideal for any of the applications I need it for (it was given to me, so I found a use for it). If a PC bulb goes bad do they usually just totally stop working? I know regular output flourescents start to get dark spots in them and will usually flash if the starter is going bad. Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[loyalty]

i think i have that same fixture, and it always blows bulbs within a few months. does yours have a cooling fan? i think mine is getting so hot it's killing bulb life

 

[TitansFan]

I have a 36 inch fixture i could sell you in a few days. If it fit and you wanted it

 

[DMBillies]

Loyalty: Mine does not have a fan either and it seems possible that it could kill bulbs. That said, I've been using the fixture for close to 6 months and I have no idea how long the person that gave it to me had it in service. I wasn't too worried about the quality of light, so I figured I would just run it till it conked. I imagine that's what happened, but I wasn't sure if it was typical for PC bulbs to just blow out totally without any warning signs.

TitanFan: Hmmm... I may. I have something in the works right now and would know in a few days if I could put it to good use.