do mh tar coil ballasts wear out?

[becon776]

ok... got this ballast from someone on here who got it from someone else..I have had it for like three years. Anyway... having some problems with the sps colors which the same exact corals used to have great coloration.

long and short: my ballast of firing and appear to be lighting just fine. 2x175 old school coralife ballasts. changed bulbs a few months ago (10,000k hamilton). can mh ballasts fire the bulbs at different intensities e.g. will a ten year old ballast not give the same output as a two year old ballast. just curious.

 

[mg426]

My (guess) would be that a ten year old ballast would tend to be less efficiant as a new one. I just retired a 2x175 watt coralife ballast. I ran it for about five years. I had bought it used from a guy who had it on a display tank in a LFS. He said he had ran it for ten years before I got it. I retired it cause one of the bulbs that it was firing was turning yellow.

 

[cccapt]

I have 3 175 mh's over my tank now. I've been using 1 of the magnetic core & coil ballast for almost 20 yrs old. It was originally on my 50 breeder. I don't see any difference between the bulb that ballast fires, a bulb fired by a 5 yr old ballast and a bulb fired by a new ballast of the same type.

 

[DarG]

I think the cap in both probe and pulse start 175 watt ballasts can affect performance of lamp. But Paulerik would be the best one to ask.

 

[mg426]

Mabe I geussed wrong .

 

[becon776]

yah dunno.. same EVERYthing and new bulbs same wattage and same wavelength... yet same stock (fragged had dieoff got frag from person who i gave frag to so same organism) yet color sucks! I'm getting growth no color... I can't figure it out! the only thing i am left to wonder is maybe my ballast isn't firing the bulbs with the same intensity as before. it's just weird. also growth is markedly slower. oh yeah.. pretty much same positioning.