Coralife MH bulb quality

[Poopy]

I've been having trouble with mine as well, I have a 250w, after about a month of use the bulb burned out, I got a replacement, that lasted 2 weeks and it did the same thing. Now I have gotten a replacement ballast, as that was supposed to remedy the problem, but it didnt change anything. So I have been without MH for almost 3 weeks now.

[b_james]

It realy surprises me that companies can get away with selling IMO such inferior products

[Poopy]

I agree, the price sure wasnt inferior....but im not too impressed with coralifes service. Also the time its taking to figure out the problem, i waited 2weeks for this new ballast, and it didnt fix anything.

[b_james]

How did you or Coralife confirm the Ballast was defective? Just courious as I dont trust any of the components - also maybe it will give me a heads up on what to look for if I suspect a faulty ballast.

[Kryten]

I've also noticed that my Coralife 10000K pc bulb looks more yellow than my other one by Hamilton - both very close to the same age - and the Hamilton was cheaper!

[Noj]

i've only had my coralife 10,000K 150watt for a month now, and seems to be giving a strong yellow tint. could this be the reason for my recent boom in green algae growth?

[b_james]

Originally Posted by Noj

i've only had my coralife 10,000K 150watt for a month now, and seems to be giving a strong yellow tint. could this be the reason for my recent boom in green algae growth?

Funny you mentioned that - I was think the same thing last night. Im on my second month of running these bulbs and I am getting a ton of green algae growth - Am I have NO fish just corals, clean up crew and an arrow crab and I am not even feeding my tank. Seeing the results reminds me of what happend when I tried using flourecent plant grow bulbs on my first reef

With my older 240 Gal setup that had about 150 Lbs of LR, softies and two horn sharks (huge bio load) I had NEVER experience ANY hair aglae blooms over the few years it was running, just the odd 'tuff" that I brushed off with a tooth brush. I was running 2 175W Hamilton 10000K lights at the time. NOW with just about no bio load and CORALIFE bulbs Im getting HUGE amounts of hair algae. BTW the rest of the system design is the same as my last setup.

WHATS UP WITH THESE BULBS

Soory to go off the handle, but I am a little ****ed that in order for these lights to perform relative to the high price they command, you need to spend an additional $150-200 to get bulbs that at least put out what they are intended to.

[smellsfishy]

it has been suggested that there is a breakin period for full brightness and spec'd spectrum, however i haven't had to replace my coralife 150w 10k pendent DE style yet, still has a half a year left yet. no problems at all though.

[b_james]

Originally Posted by smellsfishy

it has been suggested that there is a breakin period for full brightness and spec'd spectrum, however i haven't had to replace my coralife 150w 10k pendent DE style yet, still has a half a year left yet. no problems at all though.

I find it funny that during or after the break-in period the buld has shifted to a yellow tint and is not as bright as a new one. Then again maybe there are a 'few' Coralife bulbs in existence that do work properly.

I think I might change mine to Geisemann 13K - I have heard nothing but good comments on these bulbs.

[Poopy]

Well, I still am no closer to having a MH that works on my AquaLight pro, I have talked to the Coralife rep in BC, he did fack all, I phoned Coralife direct, and they say that the problem is the "ignitor" and have shipped me the parts, but I dont have them yet....anyone know where an ignitor goes? ie. in the ballast or in the fixture?

I want to drive over this light and burn it.