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fluorescent lighting ballasts suggestions



I have a 55 gallon aquarium setup that includes 4 48" standard fluorescent
tubes (2-Triton , 2- PennPlax Ultra TriLux) 
.  I'm using water resistant end caps that are wired directly to two
ballasts.  Grounded plugs have been wired to the ballasts and are plugged
into grounded timers.  The ballasts are "standard" (Home Depot) types that
support two 40 watt bulbs each.  This setup has been working properly for
the last 5 or 6 months, but recently, two of the bulbs have stopped working
and the other two take 5 to 10 minutes to start.  The two bulbs that have
stopped working have been swapped out and the problem persists.  

Now for the questions:

What brand/type of ballasts are recommended in this situation?
The Triton tubes indicate that they require a fixture with a starter.  Is
this required if the ballasts are rapid or instant start?



Sam Dotson
sdotson at firstam_com <mailto:sdotson at firstam_com>