Warning: Coralife Aqualight Advanced Hang-On 150w HQI

[brizzo]

Ok, after about 5 weeks of pulling my hair our and much frustration I have finally figured out what was wrong with my tank.

This thread is to let others know of the problem with the Coralife fixture.

They use their own generic bulb, that apparently is made of glass and filters UV.

If you replace this bulb with any other DE HQI bulb, you WILL burn and kill everything in your tank, as other bulbs are made of quartz and have no protection against UV.

The stock bulb that came with the fixture, ended up exploding/breaking in my fixture. I replaced it with a Geissman 14.1k bulb, and had trouble ever since. The obvious signs were there of UV burning, but I did not know them at the time

All my problems were solved when I went and had a piece of glass cut to cover my tank. Within days everything was happy, healing, and even growing!! I also ordered a piece of tempered glass to replace the metal grill the fixture currently has. I then plan to install new fans on both ends of the fixture.

I hope this is helpful for others in the future.