# Coralife lamp not working



## Alin10123

Hey guys,
I've had a coralife CF lamp for a couple of years now. It's been working flawlessly up until about a week ago. When i hit the on switch the compact fluorescent bulbs just go "flicker" and then they stay off. I'm not too familiar with the technology of these things. Is there a ballast in there? or is it just the bulb? Since it's been a couple of years... could it be that my bulb is burned out? Should i swap out both at the same time? I dont want to go out and buy parts that aren't broken in a "trial and error" thing.

thanks everyone!


----------



## joe kool

bulb's bad ... replace it and it should be fine. They should be replaced every 12 to 18 months whether or not they burn out as over time they lose their spectral output and are less effective for plants and less pleasing to the eye. You should notice a big difference in the "look" of your aquarium with a new bulb :mrgreen:

This is more important for your planted tank as the plants "need" the full spectrum lighting to thrive.


----------



## jones57742

Alin10123 said:


> Hey guys,
> I've had a coralife CF lamp for a couple of years now. It's been working flawlessly up until about a week ago. When i hit the on switch the compact fluorescent bulbs just go "flicker" and then they stay off. I'm not too familiar with the technology of these things. Is there a ballast in there? or is it just the bulb? Since it's been a couple of years... could it be that my bulb is burned out? Should i swap out both at the same time? I dont want to go out and buy parts that aren't broken in a "trial and error" thing.


Alin10123

Several items and/or comments.

Is this what you have?









If so and you have not replaced the bulbs the last year then, IMHO, ordering the bulbs first would be appropriate (I say IMHO as the rated K degradation after one year of service with a bulb is a "currently debated topic")

If the bulb replacement does not work then order the fixture with the bulbs".

My PC fixtures are 
"Current USA Satellite Fixtures
Aligns the 10000K White and 7100K Blue together w/ the Lunar Light to create an energy-efficient, 24-hour lighting system that's packed with value."
which I purchased from Marine Depot.

Please note the Lunar Light on this fixture does function as expected and
if your Coralife fixture has been working then I "see no reason for you to change".

With respect to your "trial and error" comment: "welcome to the club!".

TR

BTW and this is just me (and I just despise paying shipping costs):

If I were in your situation I would order a fixture and one set of spare bulbs and chunk your current bulbs.

If the bulbs are the current problem then you will have a backup set in your garage for when the ballast fails (could be in a month). (But please fire up the new fixture anyway. If there is a problem the dealer's warranty is much less painful that the manufacturer's warranty.)

If the ballast is the current problem then you will have a set of backup bulbs in your garage to replace in 12 to 24 months.


----------



## Guest

Definitely replace the bulbs, as that is most likely the problem. Like Joe said, you should replace them every 12-18 months. If that doesn't work, then you could blame the ballast.


----------



## Alin10123

Thanks everyone! I'll definately try replacing the bulbs! By the way, jones57742... my fixture is the 6700k coralife compact flourescent one. It doesn't have the moonlight function. 

Are you saying it works as it's supposed to? Does having a moon light mean that i will be able to see my fish at night too when the primary lights are out? Is the switchover from night/day automatic? How does that work? is it the moonlight that stays on all the time? and then the daylight bulb just switches on and off?

thanks!


----------



## joe kool

on that fixture you have switches for the day and night lights and usually separate plugs so you can put them on separate timers or just switch on and off as desired ... or leave the night lights on as you said as they are LED's and last a long time anyway. If this is for the planted tank I"d go back with the 6700K if it's for the other tank I'd go with a 50/50 which would really make the colors on your rainbows pop! :mrgreen:


----------



## jones57742

Alin10123 said:


> Are you saying it works as it's supposed to? Does having a moon light mean that i will be able to see my fish at night too when the primary lights are out? Is the switchover from night/day automatic? How does that work? is it the moonlight that stays on all the time? and then the daylight bulb just switches on and off?


What I said and although I use the the Satellite PC which have a moonlight it does not work as you would expect. (the led emits light but it's intensity is worthless).

No Alin: the Coralife documentation does not indicated that a moonlight is included with the fixture.

Folks:

Please excuse me here but this thread seems to be getting "out of control" with respect to helping Alin.

Please refer to my previous post.

Alin: another option out there is MH: This option is near $500 but all the light which you will need.

BTW Alin: Two 6700K bulbs are not near at attractive with respect to viewing fish and plants a a 10000K bulb and a 7100K bulb.

TR


----------



## Guest

Metal Halide isn't for everyone. 

Alin, let us know if replacing the bulb doesn't help and maybe we can try to troubleshoot what's going on with the fixture. Hopefully its just a bad bulb though.


----------



## jones57742

JustOneMore20 said:


> Metal Halide isn't for everyone.
> 
> Alin, let us know if replacing the bulb doesn't help and maybe we can try to troubleshoot what's going on with the fixture. Hopefully its just a bad bulb though.


Jom

Two Items:

1) I know that MH is not for everyone (but I hope not me as I have a ton tied up in its' illuminations of my main tank as well as my sump).

2) I "get the feeling" that yall are proposing that Alin is having to order various parts from remote vendors and hence the shipping charges.
Hence why all the "checking this and then checking that" (who knows that the problem may not be a fault in the cord*) instead of my proposal? (which is only one shipping charge)?

TR

*or even in a series of sockets from his main.

(I could easily be way, way off here but this post is just the best of my thinking)


----------



## jones57742

JustOneMore20 said:


> Metal Halide isn't for everyone.
> 
> Alin, let us know if replacing the bulb doesn't help and maybe we can try to troubleshoot what's going on with the fixture. Hopefully its just a bad bulb though.


Jom

Two Items:

1) I know that MH is not for everyone (but I hope not me as I have a ton tied up in its' illuminations of my main tank as well as my sump).

2) I "get the feeling" that yall are proposing that Alin is having to order various parts from remote vendors and hence the shipping charges.
Hence why all the "checking this and then checking that" (who knows that the problem may not be a fault in the cord*) instead of my proposal? (which is only one shipping charge)?

TR

*or even in a series of sockets from his main.

(I could easily be way, way off here but this post is just the best of my thinking)


----------



## joe kool

WOW ... talk about out of control

"we" jusonemore20 and I were simply going with the "most probable" cause of the symptoms he explained. Not to mention the cheapest. 9 out of 10 times if it even tries to flicker (in an electronic ballast anyway) it's the bulb's bad if it has a starter about 7 out of 10 with the other 3 being the starter as the old style magnetic ballasts hardly ever go bad but are hard on bulbs(and starters). suggesting that someone buy an entire light assembly with spare bulbs is not only costly, quite frankly it's wasteful and irresponsible if you get right down to it. Even if it ends up being a ballast (available from coralife for about $30 shipped) with the new bulb (that he needs whether or not his old one is burned out or not if it's "a couple" years old) you are still way cheaper than the "retail" price for an entire fixture, let alone the spare bulbs. 

Before you go all getting your feelings hurt ... read back over our posts, never once did we say "no don't listen to that guy he's stupid" or for that matter even mention your posts. I simply offered other options as did justonemore20

You're opinion isn't the only one out there and when someone else offers other solutions it's not an insult on you or your opinions unless they call you out or you make it one ... which you did in this case. In through the nose slowly out through the mouth ... think M E L L O W ... :mrgreen:


----------



## joe kool

jones57742 said:


> BTW Alin: Two 6700K bulbs are not near at attractive with respect to viewing fish and plants a a 10000K bulb and a 7100K bulb.
> 
> TR



but most plant people go with 6700K on their planted tanks, 50/50 on fish tanks as you get the 10K along with the antic which while doing nothing for plants really helps make the colors in the tank pop. 

It all comes down to personal choice on "fish" tanks as to what the user finds attractive. After all beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or beer holder as the case may be) "personally" I and many of my friends and folks I have talked to in online forums like the look of 50/50's for "fish" tanks ... AND I personally only have 1 tank I'd call a "plant" tank. A lot of people I've asked like the 6700 for plants because they notice healthier plants than with 10K 20K 8.6K (I think it was an 8"something"K) or any of the 4K or lower ... something about the 6700K the plants like. I'm not a plant person ... just going off hearsay in that case but it DOES work well for my planted tank, better than the 10K or 50/50 I had before.


----------



## Alin10123

JustOneMore20 said:


> Metal Halide isn't for everyone.
> 
> Alin, let us know if replacing the bulb doesn't help and maybe we can try to troubleshoot what's going on with the fixture. Hopefully its just a bad bulb though.


Ok,
I replaced both of the CF bulbs in the fixture. The old ones have something loose inside when i move the bulbs around. So i assume that they were bad anyways. But the light still only gives a very short flicker. Then they dont come on. Could it be the ballast? I dont see a ballast in there. Do these things even have a ballast? Or is there any other suggestions?

thanks


----------



## jones57742

Alin10123 said:


> Ok,
> I replaced both of the CF bulbs in the fixture. The old ones have something loose inside when i move the bulbs around. So i assume that they were bad anyways. But the light still only gives a very short flicker. Then they dont come on. Could it be the ballast? I dont see a ballast in there. Do these things even have a ballast? Or is there any other suggestions?
> 
> thanks


Alin10123

1) The ballast is not in the bulb but is contained in the PC fixture. (I could "not tell" from the web page but I anticipate that your fixture has a fan. The ballast is located at the "end of the fixture" where the fan is located".)

2) I gave you the best of my thinking with respect to "what I would do" in my previous post.

TR


----------



## joe kool

there should be ab model number on the fixture somewhere give the name and model number and we'll be able to find the ballast for it. It is odd that they are bad though as they are normally pretty sturdy (I've had a wire short to the aluminum reflector and kill the bulb, Replaces the wire and end cap and put in a new bulb and it work great. 

But alas it is electronics of which we speak and it can be very unpredictable at times. 

A couple things to check prior to looking at a ballast though, are both lights flickering? If memory serves there was individual ballasts for my 48" fixture but it may not be the same for yours. It would be even more odd to have 2 ballasts go at the same time in a fixture unless you had a surge or electrical short somewhere in the fixture. Are their 2 separate switches or just 1 for both lights.

Remove and reinstall the bulbs ensuring they go all the way into the endcaps (silly I know but I've even not got one completely down before myself and after hours of head scratching because everything checked out with a meter put the bulbs back in and wa la I had light. 

What is your mechanical ability (good with electronics or multimeter)?


----------



## jones57742

Joe


Humorous Part

You are obviously way, way better than me at electronics! (all I really know is RLC theory.)

Absolutely no way would I ever consider attempting what you are describing.

Upon plugging the PC in the lightning bolt, the spewing copper and the velocity of the pieces of the plastic enclosure would be significant.


Serious Part

The office building is approximately 30 years old and I have occupied it for approximately 25 years.

Seems like every four years I have to spend a ton for ballasts for the lighting in the suspended ceilings.

Approximately four years ago I spent more than a ton for "electronic/digital" ballasts when the old ballasts began failing.

Now the "electronic/digital" ballasts are failing!

You got any ideas or suggestions here?

TR


----------

