tgrupert Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I have an alife. they have a cheap magnetic ballast and a 27 watt 50/50 bulb. for some unexplained reason the light stopped working. I took the lighting apart and took out the starter and messed witgh the connections. Then I put it back in and it worked again for a couple of minutes and then went out. Now nothing sems to help. Could it be the bulb? I'm thinking of getting a workhorse 2 to replace the ballast. what do y'all think? Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 you know my opinion right? the bulbs can be a lil faulty ime, so that could be all that's wrong (pic up a spare in case) but seriously the workhorse 2 is money and fires right up the first time everytime, and it runs cool enough that i've never used the fan. tg Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I'd get both the Workhorse 2 ballast (either style works but I have the cube style that fits up with the existing screw holes) and a replacement bulb. I had the misfortune to pull one side of the bulb's filament out while retrofitting the hood with the workhorse 2 ballast so the tank had no light for 4 days. The retrofit is easy and well worth not having to hear that annoying fan or any other fan for that matter once you retrofit it. Link to comment
tgrupert Posted February 6, 2003 Author Share Posted February 6, 2003 I ordered the work horse 2 long style for a tadf over 20 with shipping. they were out of the cube wire ties are good enough for me. where can I get 50/50 28 watt bulbs? Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 No worries on the long style. Check out Twins Guy's post with his Alife. There are pics of his retrofit as well as Rick J G's retrofit using the style of workhorse you bought. I bought my replacement bulb from http://www.aquaticwarehouse.com. You'll have to call them to get the bulb as it isn't listed on their website. It's the 27W Aqualux 50/50 bulb. It runs about $18. Good luck and post some pics of the tank with the new setup. Link to comment
tgrupert Posted February 6, 2003 Author Share Posted February 6, 2003 I was looking on their site and couldn't find any bulbs. I'm thinking of retro fitting it with one of the 27 watt quads and a 9 watt actinic so it's easier to find replacments. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 yeah-like ox suggested you won't find em on their website, but then IMO you won't find much on their website. call them or else i got a few from bruce at PSL. i thought about doing the csl retro but i promised this was gonna be a simple and sleek tank-for the living room-and i wasn't sure how cleanly i'd be able to install it. let us know what you decide-that csl 27 + 9 would give you some dawn/dusk options but the spectrum may be a lil off what you like because they only make 5000K, 6500K, and actinic 27W quads like that. soon enough they'll realize they're silly and get with the 50/50 program or at least 10K. bleh-yellow! Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 You beat me to it Twins Guy. I had thought about retrofitting the hood as well with but decided against it to keep the all in one look. I'm sure it could be done but I would definitely look into getting a replacement hood just as a CYA should you butcher the original too much. Link to comment
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