When the bulbs get old, they can go out, and flicker etc. This flckering is the ballast trying to restart the bulbs. That constant restarting is hard on ballasts. Just like leaving a burnt out bulb in a Fluorescent fixture, Its hard on it and usually leads to burnt out ballasts as its working overtime to try and light the dead bulb
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Dan Pesonen
Umm, a tank or 5
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