Light not working...

[Wallis97]

As above. The tube (Arcadia Original Tropical T8) comes on at one end - I mean a purple glow - and the other end does nothing at all. What is causing this and what can I do to rectify it?

(Sorry if it's an obvious answer, the only other time I've had a light fail it got so hot it melted the casing, so i could just replace the entire thing)

 

[mikka23]

Probably not the problem but when my light wouldn't work it was the starter which was broken. I just replaced it with a cheap one off ebay.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
It sounds like the tube, if you can see a lot of blackening at the ends it is where the starting arc has deposited bits of the electrode on the glass envelope. This is more of a problem with T8 tubes and magnetic ballasts.

If it is a standard size, just buy any "cool white" or "day light" T8 tube to replace it, they cost a fraction of the cost of "aquarium" tubes and do exactly the same job.

cheers Darrel