Issue with my light fixture not coming on

[MartinBlank]

So it's a 75 gallon planted tank with mainly low light plants.

I have T5 HO dual bulb fixture at 54w apiece, so most charts would consider that a medium level of light.

Lately, not every time, but the lights are not coming on in my fixture when the timer supplies power to the fixture. If I tap the fixture a couple times it lights up, usually with just a single tap or two. Since the light is supposed to come on while I am at work, this just isn't a viable long term workaround

I replaced the bulbs (which were only 8 months old) and the behavior continues. Anybody else had a situation like this?


On a semi-related note: If I decided to leap to LED's, would the Marineland Reef Capable LED fixture provide a near equivalent light level (medium level) or would it perhaps be considered high light (or not enough light)? Would there be another LED solution out there that would be better / same price / cheaper than the marineland fixture?

 

[BillD]

The fact that tapping the fixture causes the lights to come on, and the problem is intermittent, makes me think that the problem is with the contact between the lamp pins and the socket. It is possible that moving (rotating) the tube slightly will fix the problem.

 

[MartinBlank]

I have tried that a couple times, to varying degrees of success, but nothing to the point that it is as reliable as I would like. I am wondering if one of the sockets itself is the issue.

I am using this as an excuse to probably try a DIY LED lighting system using the water proof floods that were talked about in the "Cheap LED lighting solution?" thread