Corallife Aqualight problems

nest9 · Apr 29, 2012

I just purchased a seasoned tank yesterday and it appears there is an issue with the Coralife Aqualight 72 inches. The right side, all blue LED, and center (heat) ligths work fine. The left side front and back balasts bulbs, and left and right heat lights will not work? I might assume that the right (heat) heat light would be a buld replacement since everything on the right side is working. I would not however thing it would be a bulb to keep the whole left side from working? This link below is the kind of lighting system I am taking about.

Coralife Aqualight Pro Metal Halide Aquarium Light Fixture, 1X150W HQI & 2X65W Compact Fluorescents, 72 inch aqualight pro 150w hqi aqualight pro 150w aqualight pro 150

Tomoko Schum · Apr 29, 2012

Heat light? Do you mean a metal halide lamp?

You have four PC lamps and three metal halide lamps plus four moonlight LED's.
How many ballasts do you have?

nest9 · Apr 29, 2012

Sorry, yes the Three 150 watt 10K HQI metal halide lamps. I now have 2 working and I will assume the one on the right side where everything else is working is blown?

Four 96 watt 03 Actinic compact fluorescent lamps - The one in the front right appears to be working fine, the one in the back right is a little dimmer but does work. The two on the left side, front and back, do not work at all. I did take the top off and checked for any loose connections and did not see any. Best I can remember, there were 2 ballasts one on each end but I could be wrong. Also, the link i posted earlier says the light has 3 on/off switches but I am only able to locate 2 of them. Maybe this one in the link is a newer model as mine is almost 2 years old but everything else is exactly the same. I suppose it would be odd for both bulbs to blow on the same side but could happen. I guess I could always swap the lights and if it works I know I have a bad light. If it does not work probably a bad ballasts or something else beyond me. Just hate to see a good light only halfway work!

Tomoko Schum · Apr 29, 2012

It's probably bad lamps. Do switch lamps around and see.
If there are only two remote ballasts, all metal halides are on one ballast and all the PC's are on the other. If one of the lamp is out while the others are working, your problem may well be lamp related rather than ballast related. Let's hope so.

Are these lamps new? You are supposed to replace lamps every year. A lot of people replace actinic PC's every 6 months and MH lamps every year.

I hear a lot of complaints about Coralife fixtures for both FW and SW set-up's. They don't seem to be most reliable. I lost one over my 15 gallon tank after 2 years of use due to moist, salt air getting inside the fixture through the gaps in the seat for the acrylic shield. So your problem may be related to the corrosion of connecting parts or sockets.

jbonez · Apr 29, 2012

i agree^^^^^^

nest9 · Apr 30, 2012

So I did not do anything else to the lights yesterday because I so full of energy from moving (35) 5 gallon buckets full of water, rocks, sand, fish, etc. When I came down stairs this morning, the left front light was now working?? I could not for the life of me get this thing to work no matter what I plugged in or which switch I turned on. I am starting to think that maybe the connectors need a little cleaning? I guess this is all the extra fun that comes with the hobby. Live and learn!

H@rry · Apr 30, 2012

Metal Halides don't always come on as soon as you turn the switch on. Some of them take a minute or so to "warm up". Probably what you were doing was turning it back off when it didn't immediately come on and that simply made it "start back over" on the warmup cycle. Also if you turn it off and back on it won't come on until it has cooled off a little bit.

Tomoko Schum · Apr 30, 2012

If his metal halide are all on the same ballast, then all of them will be off as he plays with his switches.

nest9 - Please specify the type of lamps when you talk about lamps. Do you mean the left front actinic PC lamp when you say the left front light? If so, it's a poor connection issue. It could be a corroded connector or a wire getting disconnected.

When you buy used equipment, unfortunately you are taking a chance unless you know how to fix things.

H@rry · Apr 30, 2012

I wouldn't think the fixture would be trying to run 3 MHs on 1 ballast; maybe a common switch but separate ballasts.

Tomoko Schum · Apr 30, 2012

He never said how many ballast he had. I assumed that he had two remote ballasts, one for PC's and another for MH's. I agree that a metal halide ballast typically runs one or two lamps. If he has internal ballasts for the four PC lamps, he may have two remote MH ballasts.

H@rry · Apr 30, 2012

The ballasts may be in a common enclosure but there will probably be a ballast for each MH bulb. I've never seen a commercial fixture that tried to drive more than one bulb from the same ballast. Each ballast/bulb combination operates independently of the others (which accounts for the behavior he/she describes). The picture he/she posted shows what looks like three ballasts on the right side.

Tomoko Schum · Apr 30, 2012

You are right. The picture shows three ballasts. A single enclosure ballast that runs three 150W metal halide lamps is not common, but it exists.
Let's see what nest9 says about the left front lamp. It's hard to figure out what to check next without knowing more about what really is happening with the fixture.