Radium question

[jwoyshnar]

I have a question for all you Radium users. I just bought 3 used Radium bulbs on here. One from one reefer and the other two from another. The one bulb I got from the first guy works fine. The other two I got from the other guy don't work. The second guy blamed my ballasts even though one of the Radiums is working fine. They are Coralife magnetic ballasts. Has anyone ever heard of this before? As far as I knew they worked better on magnetic ballasts.

 

[tinkerman]

Are the coralife ballasts m80? The mag ballasts came in pulse and probe start, can't remember which the m80 is. If you are running the same ballasts for all 3 bulbs try the two on the ballast that is firing the bulb.

 

[jwoyshnar]

I did try it. The working bulb worked in all spots, the other two didn't work anywhere.

 

[tinkerman]

I would say you got bad bulbs then.

 

[jwoyshnar]

Thanks for the response, I agree. On a side note I am now hooked on Radiums. The one that is working made that side of my tank look awesome!

 

[tkeracer619]

Its pretty rare for a bulb to not fire. Usually if it won't fire its a ballast issue but bulbs do go bad.

What is the spec on the ballast and what is the wattage?

Also. Don't buy used bulbs. I have some 1.5 year old radiums I could sell someone and say they have 2 months on them. No way to tell.

 

[jwoyshnar]

It wasn't the ballast. I swapped out the working bulb on the other ballasts and it worked in every spot. I learned about buying used bulbs. Never again.