mh bulb fire up
- Thread starter reefNewbie
- Start date
I believe AB bulbs are supposed to be run on a pulse start ballast that has an ingnitor built in. Old tar ballasts do not have pulse start. I have been running AB bulbs on an old tar style ballast (Hamilton) and mine do the same thing every once in awhile. The proper bulb i believe is one that has an ignitor in it. I just ordered Ushio's because they have the ignitor in them, hopefully it will solve my problem. Do a search for Aqualine Bushke or Ushio here or on RC and you find a few links.
pncstod is correct.
I'm going through the same situation right now.
The AB bulbs requirea pulse start ballast to work correctly allthough they do sometimes work with out, any may get better with some burn time on them. The Ushios have a starter built into the bulb which makes them a better choice for a ANSI standard M58 ballast. There is a thread on reef central that I started 2 days ago about this.
I'm going through the same situation right now.
The AB bulbs requirea pulse start ballast to work correctly allthough they do sometimes work with out, any may get better with some burn time on them. The Ushios have a starter built into the bulb which makes them a better choice for a ANSI standard M58 ballast. There is a thread on reef central that I started 2 days ago about this.
I am using Ushio 175W bulbs with an old Hamilton hood and ballast and had the same problem. It went away over time. After the first week the bulbs would come on and stay on without problem. Could be that burn in period the other reply is referring to. For the record, I am totally pleased with the Ushio 175's over my 75 gallon reef.
I've got the same exact thing here (brand spankin new AB 10K 175w bulb with older style Corallife ballast that has a Magnetek transformer & cap).
Very first attempt to fire got absolutely NOTHING.. Second time and the sucker scared me 1/2 to death (flashed erratically for a few seconds and stopped.) Now it might flash, might start out dim and then gain intensity, hard to say.. Generally if it flashes it'll pop off and that's it, I have to flick the power off and on a couple times until I can feel the ballast give a good strong hum. - Otherwise if it starts out dim it'll generally warm up.
This is all over the course of the last 3-4 hrs trying to get set up.
I've only got another hr before the timer kicks off, but I'm thinking of overriding it and leaving it on for a good full 24hr cycle. (I only have fish/crabs/snails with the exception of a hitchhiked zooanthid.)
I'll let ya know how mine fire after lunch friday.. I'm gonna let it burn in for a bit. (Besides, the astreas could use the extra food!)
BTW - If it does look like a ballast issue, I'm probably gonna order a DIY from 1000bulbs.com - pretty good prices on DIY kits from what I've seen..
Good luck, I'd like to hear some more on it...
Very first attempt to fire got absolutely NOTHING.. Second time and the sucker scared me 1/2 to death (flashed erratically for a few seconds and stopped.) Now it might flash, might start out dim and then gain intensity, hard to say.. Generally if it flashes it'll pop off and that's it, I have to flick the power off and on a couple times until I can feel the ballast give a good strong hum. - Otherwise if it starts out dim it'll generally warm up.
This is all over the course of the last 3-4 hrs trying to get set up.
I've only got another hr before the timer kicks off, but I'm thinking of overriding it and leaving it on for a good full 24hr cycle. (I only have fish/crabs/snails with the exception of a hitchhiked zooanthid.)
I'll let ya know how mine fire after lunch friday.. I'm gonna let it burn in for a bit. (Besides, the astreas could use the extra food!)
BTW - If it does look like a ballast issue, I'm probably gonna order a DIY from 1000bulbs.com - pretty good prices on DIY kits from what I've seen..
Good luck, I'd like to hear some more on it...
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