MH flickering, any ideas?

danny zubot · #1 12-22-2009, 10:50 PM

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.

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.

phillybean · #2 12-24-2009, 06:08 AM

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.

danny zubot · #3 12-28-2009, 08:49 PM

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!

chris121277 · #4 01-06-2010, 01:42 AM

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

danny zubot · #5 01-06-2010, 02:49 AM

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.

chris121277 · #6 01-06-2010, 02:19 PM

so....thats what 144 watts? that just a hair under what i'm running......what bulbs do you have in them?

If there still the stock bulbs you might notice a large difference once you replace them?

Also, do you have them mounted in you hood?

danny zubot · #7 01-06-2010, 03:48 PM

They are mounted in the hood, which situates them a little higher then I think they were intended. I'm going to try and post some pics in my tank build thread to see what everyone thinks.