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Well, I've had my other bulb plugged in for over an hour. So far no flickering. I'll leave it in for a couple of days just to be sure, but so far it looks like the bulb is the problem. The bulb I put in for this test is my old Aqua Connect 14K, which seams to still be in fairly good shape. There isn't even burn marks or however you describe the usual discoloration on the inside bulb thing, or whatever you call it.:lol: So I might just keep it in there. I left a message with XM regarding warranty on the bulb, so we'll see what they have to say. J&L, where I bought it, wouldn't even talk to me about it.

If this bulb starts to flicker, and it is my ballast, I might just switch over to a T5 fixture for the same price as a new ballast. But thats another post all together.

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It's the ballast. I just saw the test light dim. Bummer! Well, I might start shopping for a new T5 light.

Ballasts are not that expensive anymore.

Give Kevin @ Red Coral (Calgary) a call. He has great pricing and can ship to you.

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I just checked out REd Coral's web site to see their pricing and noticed that my ballast should still be under warranty. I've only had it for 2 years. Now if I can just find the reciept.

I had my electronic crap out as well (Galaxy) but the warranty is excellent and Wendel at OA just exchanged it for me what more can you ask for.
That is why OA is my number one place to shop.

OA keeps all the stuff I buy there on file maybe Red Coral does as well?

I had a similar issue. My 175 Watt Hamilton 14k Bulbs worked great, but were old. I replaced them with 10K AM Bulbs and had issues with flickering and the bulbs turning off. My Hamiltons worked fine. About a month later the ballast completely died.

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I hope the T5 lights I order come soon. Right now I'm lucky if the light is staying on even half the time. My poor corals and fish don't know what the heck is going on!

So did you order a T-5 fixture? if so what did you get?

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I ended up getting 2 24" Nova extremes for a total of 4 lights. Added them to my existing T5 to make 6. It's hard to look at such a dim tank now, being that I've downsized from my 400 watt MH. I'm looking into getting 1 more Nova extreme to add some more light.