Lighting Failure - Maybe Quick Question

[sg1838]

So this morning my lights won't turn on. Two of the bulbs flash on quick, the other two don't. Looking at the two that don't, one of them looks all black on the inside on the one end. When this particular bulb is rying to light, it glows yellowish-white on that end like an incandescent soft-white light bulb (just for a second, then goes out). The other non-lighting bulb does not do this.

Is it probably safe to assume that the blackened bulb is burnt out? Any thoughts on what would cause this premature failure? These bulbs are only 3 months old at best. Is overdriving them with the IceCaps causing this to happen? Should I be seriously considering switching back to VHOs, or did I just get a bad bulb? I never had a VHO bulb do this to me.

As a note, my end caps are of the waterproof variety (and they too are only 3 months old), so it seems extremely unlikely that this would be caused by water getting in the socket.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

are the bad bulbs t5's?

 

[jaybfresh]

Are you fan cooling the bulbs? They need active cooling when overdriving with icecaps, or else they can burn out quickly

 

[sg1838]

Yes, the bulbs that don't fire are T5's. And no, I was not cooling them. I have the fans, but they aren't installed in my canopy because my canopy needs to be modified to accommodate them. It sounds like I'll be doing that this afternoon...

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've don't have experience with t5's.

Normally, when fluorescent lamps act like what is being described you either have a blown bulb or a bad contact. Try gently rocking the lamp in it's holder to see if it will light.

 

[iamwrasseman]

i know its a bit of a drive but i have spare workhorse 5 ballast for 4 bulb t-5 if you need it i would sell it to ya for my cost .i also have many bulbs that work to test and make sure its the bulbs .i will pm my number

 

[jaybfresh]

Also worth noting (and you probably already know), bulbs on the icecap ballast are wired in series, so if one does not fire up none of them will. Could be just one bad bulb.

 

[iamwrasseman]

sorry didnt catch the ice cap ballast there ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,never mind

 

[jfl14609]

one major question what kind of bulbs?

 

[pimpinitup6969]

I know when one bulb doesn't fire and the rest come on and off the bulb that doesnt come on at all is blown. I have never seen it with two but i would start by replacing the one that looks blown. Although it might be both bulbs

 

[sg1838]

Well, it took me over 12 hours, but I got the lights back up and running yesterday. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

I don't know whether the suspect "burnt" bulb was the problem or not, but I suspect not. I took the canopy off and started taking the bulbs out. When I tried to take the reflector off the bulb on the same circuit as the suspect bulb it shattered in my hands. I have the feeling that it was cracked, and the suspect bulb that looked like it was trying to fire, probably was still good.

But, I spent the day yesterday wiring up my VHO actinics, installing the fans in the canopy, modifying the canopy so that with the fans installed it would sit on top of the tank, and running out to MO to buy a couple new T5 bulbs. Everything seems to be up and running, and running well, at this point.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions yesterday. It was a lot of work, but that project was the last major project I had planned on my tank, so it's nice to have it complete now.

Oh, and to answer somebody's question, the "burnt" bulb was an ATI Blue Plus T5, and the bulb that shattered was a UVL Actinic White T5.

 

[superkat]

congrats on a major accomplishment!:celeb2:

 

[sg1838]

Thanks! :beer:

As a side note, it really is amazing what the fans do for the tank temperature. Previously, my tank temp would vary between 77 degrees at 10am to 81.5 degrees at 10pm. With the fans, my temperature varied between 78.0 and 78.2 degrees all day. I wish everything else in the tank was so easy to regulate (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, salinity, phosphates, nitrates, etc., etc., etc.)