Refugium Light- 9W Power Compact

[Oscar]

My Cad39 comes with a refugium light with a thumb screw device that attaches to the top edge of the tank glass.

Unfortunately the tube was broken during shipping. I found replacement tube at Home Despot but the built in ballast really struggles to fire up the tube. There is a lot of flickering and sometimes it comes on sometimes not. If I put my hand on the tube it usually fires but not always.

I found another tube at Rona made by another manufacturer but with the same issue.

The idea is to have the refugium light on a timer that would come on at night to keep the chaeto etc active at night.

Anybody have any tricks?

[mseepman]

Oscar,

How does the light connect to the fixture. Is it a screw in, a square pin, or a straight pin? That will help us find a replacement bulb.

[Oscar]

Straight pin. 6.5" long 6500K

[Interior_Reef]

looks like an 18W, perhaps retro fit your hood with some t5's? if you have the room... you can get a mini coralife PC light for 30$ and rewire it in to you hood.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Interior_Reef

looks like an 18W, perhaps retro fit your hood with some t5's? if you have the room... you can get a mini coralife PC light for 30$ and rewire it in to you hood.

It is only a 9W and came installed in a 8" long unit that attaches to the tank glass separate from the main hood. It swivels independently so that you can aim it as requred at the refugium.



Here it is installed although it is not aimed at the refugium in this photo.


So I am wondering if anyone has any tricks to get this light to fire up? Or are their more reliable tubes available from what I can find at Home Despot?
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Although reviewing the J&L summary of the Coralife the 9" unit it could be a very nice solution.

[spreerider]

i have one of those on a 5g planted tank, i got mine as a desk lamp then replaced the tube with 6500K one,
i found mine flickered alot at first but as it aged it started up faster.
one thing to do is remove the bulb and then put it back in, sometimes a poor connection can cause the bulb to flicker more on a weak ballast.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by spreerider

i have one of those on a 5g planted tank, i got mine as a desk lamp then replaced the tube with 6500K one,
i found mine flickered alot at first but as it aged it started up faster.
one thing to do is remove the bulb and then put it back in, sometimes a poor connection can cause the bulb to flicker more on a weak ballast.

Thanks, I will give the tube a try again.