Cyber Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Hello, I recently bought a Alife 5Gal tank with built-in sump and stuff (for $125). The tank is wonderful. However, the lighting system makes me worry. It uses 1 Aqualux 27W combo bulb - straight pin. I've looked on all the online store I know of and I couldn't find any thing that may fit my lighting system. Aqualux bulbs are no where to be found. The closest thing is Coralife 28W but they are square pin. I saw some 32W but they are all longer than my tank (my tank is 12" long). To make the story short, does anyone know anywhere that sell the 27W Aqualux bulbs? I would like to buy 10 boxes...just kidding. Otherwise, can anyone tell me what other bulbs will fit a 12" long tank, 27-36W and have straight pin? Thank so much, Cyber Link to comment
reefriot Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 how is the bulb mounted? my jalli light for my fuge dosen't have the traditional endcap on it just 4 wires with but conectors that slide on each pin. if you have access to the wires you could do that and use any bulb you want. theres alot of weird bulbs out there but when it comes to the quad bulbs i have only seem japaneese style no linear. well after a breif search i remembered that bruce at petsupply liquidator uses aqualux bulbs so checked his site and here ya go http://www.petsupplyliquidator.com/htm/rep...pwrcompacts.htm new web sites up to but i'd email him to make sure aaron Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 call aquatic warehouse, get their number here http://www.aquaticwarehouse.com the bulbs are not on their website, but i believe you can still order them over the phone. or bruce has em too. i'm not the flaming type usually but this has been covered sooo many times, thankfully chris made the search button really easy to find-it blinks orange. Link to comment
MR.MORAY Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Aquatic warehouse sells them i bought 2 for my alife but sold it because the fan and bulbs dont last. Link to comment
Cyber Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 OceanClear - You had heating problem with your Alife? Thanks for all the responses, I'll check Aquatic Warehouse. It's 3 miles from me =)) Cyber Link to comment
MR.MORAY Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 It was not so much the heat but the moisture was burning out the lights and the fans.It needs more vents cut in the top not the back of the tank. Link to comment
rickjg Posted February 20, 2003 Share Posted February 20, 2003 When I bought my ALIFE the fan was pulling air from the inside of the tank and blowing it out of the vent hole in top. The fan should be reversed to blow in dry outside air. This will stop the moisture problems. You can also upgrade your ballast to an electronic with will lower temps and the bulb should last much longer. Do a search of the threads on ALIFE tanks for more info. Link to comment
Bob McGee Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 I'm curious... If you reverse the fan, don't you keep heat inside the tank? Generally, you want to have the fan vent hot air out for cooling purposes, or does the 27 watt bulb not generate that much heat? On another note, has anyone tried to retrofit 1 or 2 ahsupply.com 13W bulbs into this tank for additional lighting? Is there room for this? Could you scap the stock lighting and put in 3-4 13W ahsupply kits where the original bulb used to be? I'm trying to think of ways to hack this tank to make it a little nicer. Opinions? Bob Link to comment
Cyber Posted February 26, 2003 Author Share Posted February 26, 2003 Hello, I've been running the 27W without cooling fan for a month and it seem to be ok. The heat is not too hot and the water temperature stays the same. I think if I switch to electronic ballast, it would be cooler but for now it's ok. I am not so sure about the summer yet. For retrofitting 13W, I think if you put the PC line up front - back with the tank, you can put at least 4x13W PC in there. Just remove the old lighting system. Also you should put in 2 fans on the back to reduce the heat in case of 4x13W. That's my plan. I already got 4x13W PC from Lowe's for $10 each. They are reading lights that have 6500K temperature. I plan to put all these ballasts in one of the aluminum box (from fry's) and custom-make 4 connectors outside of the box. Cyber Link to comment
phishman1 Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 where do you get these tanks Link to comment
rickjg Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 The ALIFE light lens has holes in the back next to vent holes, so the heat escapes very easily out the vents. This is much better than pulling moist salty air into the lens. I have not seen ALIFE tanks for sale lately. Aquatic Warehouse stopped selling the ALIFE tanks because to many people had problems with the lights Link to comment
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