Quote:
Originally Posted by
westwind77 http:///t/343566/coralife-aqualight-elite-any-good#post_3496418
Why do you assume anything was wrong with it? The light did not have lunar lights, so I took it apart and added them. I knew it did not have them when I bought it and the $500 jump to the next light was not worth it just to get lunar lights when they can be bought and installed for $30! I can see you are still 'hurt' and frustrated from your experience but the light is easy to fix and easy to rebuild if you needed to. These things do not have circuit boards and tons of connections, you could have a faulty crimp or a bad base. Things things days, does not matter what you buy, are never 100% perfect. I did not 'have to' take it apart for the new ballasts, I'm sure all I needed to do was cut the old plug end and splice the new end on, but not being an electrician I did not know the best connectors to use so I figured I would just do it the 'right way' since the new cord is fully shielded and run the length.
ebay or craigslist the light, I'm sure someone can get it back up and running quickly, and you will get it out of your house!
The thing weighs so much and with the 3 ballasts boxes, the cost of shipping is a big downfall. How could the lunar lights require all new cords to the ballast?
I disagree about nothing being perfect. My T5s work perfect, as does my Octopus skimmer, my Aquaripure filters, My JBJ ATO, My Phosphate combined carbon reactor, my little canister filter, and Whisper overflow filter... all work 100% perfect....My equipment list seems endless, but they all work as they should right from the box.
I'm not a handy person, and I have bad arthritis in my hands, so screwdrivers are difficult to use. I do have a ratchet one that doesn't require too much twisting, but Miss. Fixit I am not. I purchase new equipment to avoid the need to fix it and that's what I expect. I know that sometimes things do come damaged from the box, or the assembly worker must have had a bad day when my gizmo was made...but honestly every Coralife item I have purchased in the last 5 years has had problems....every single one of them.
Coralife has gone out of business, so the equipment being sold are the refurbished rejects, damaged or returned items. Nothing new is being made. I strongly suspect that's what the problem is. A company (I don't recall the name now) purchased their inventory and sells it off much cheaper than they originally cost. You can purchase a MH Elite version, the top of the line for Corilfe and only pay the cost of a T5 at around $450.00 to $500.00...back in the day when they were up and running that unit cost over $1000.00.
I was following up my post because it came up when I was doing a search on something related to it (see the 12' post above). Anyway, sounds like some weird stuff with your light. I got him in 08' and it has been flawless since. Never had to replace a ballast and just my lights once a year to stay strong. I swapped the Coralife ones out within a few weeks and have gone to a few different brands but never and issue and never 10k. I just 'test installed' the new electronic ballast to one light and it powers on FAST and BRIGHT! I wanted to test it before I removed all the wires, rerun everything, then put it all back together. Now I now it works, now the fun begins!
