Ok last year was one lighting problem after another. It seemed like we were constantly buying new bulbs or ballasts or replacing things on my 210g reef tank's lighting. The tank is lit with a 250w MH at each end and a 48" T5 fixture (8 bulbs) in the center over the center brace that is about a mile wide. At some point in the year the T5 fixture went from 2 of the bulbs sometimes needing to be adjusted (rotated in the socket) in order to light up properly to now never lighting. So it has essentially been a 6 bulb fixture for quite a few months now. But since we had bigger tank issues to worry about with the tank crash last year, it has been left this way.

I am really tired of the disproportionate lighting with the ends not matching the center in intensity and color. When all 8 bulbs light up and I carefully choose the right mix of bulbs, it matched pretty well to my eye in the past. But now it is not even close.

Does it sound like we need to buy a new fixture? Or that we need to rewire the fixture that we have? We bought it new but it has been over that tank for 3 or 4 years now.