Just figured out experimentally.Apply slightly below 12v to both cathodes for 5-10 minutes either one at a time or together. Literally destroyed a pair of BRAND NEW ALTOs. 

Go over 12v or leave it on for much more than 10 minutes, it will flash over and burn out the filament.  

I don't know the mechanism of action, but I believe the hot filaments "combine" with mercury and deprive the available mercury from lamp.  As long as you don't cause the filament to burn out, they will still strike in electronic ballast.  The power usage drops 10-15% but output drops DRAMATICALLY and turns pinkish.  

I think the emission layer would be damaged by overheating too (and not only in ALTO's).
12V is way too much for the fluorescent filament (they are rated for 3.5V steady state), such high voltage could be present only for few 100's of ms (in the preheat phase of the programmed start ballast, if you want to speed up the starting process and at the same time do not cold-start). But generally using more then ~7V (correspond to ~0.5..1s preheat time) shorten the lamp life anyway and the ALTO's may be more sensitive for this.

Just figured out experimentally.Apply slightly below 12v to both cathodes for 5-10 minutes either one at a time or together. Literally destroyed a pair of BRAND NEW ALTOs. 

Go over 12v or leave it on for much more than 10 minutes, it will flash over and burn out the filament.  

I don't know the mechanism of action, but I believe the hot filaments "combine" with mercury and deprive the available mercury from lamp.  As long as you don't cause the filament to burn out, they will still strike in electronic ballast.  The power usage drops 10-15% but output drops DRAMATICALLY and turns pinkish.  

Will this work on any fluorescent lamp? I have a GE F17T8 EcoLux in mind........

I haven't tried it. Those two ALTO F32T8/TL835s did get trashed and dumped though.

I'm not sure I fully understand why you guys go ahead and inflict improper lamp operating properties on bulbs.

Is it for pure enjoyment?  If that's the case, then I can appreciate that--especially if you spare no lamp manufacturer from your experiments.

Is it to merely abuse lamps made by Philips and branded as Alto lamps?

Is it to showcase your contempt for certain lamp manufacturers, by purposefully abusing their lamps and making a spectacle of your findings?

I've never been one to abuse lamps, ballasts, or fixtures.  I prefer to use lighting and the auxiliary gear associated with it under the correct electrical circumstances.  I think purposefully driving a lamp, or ballast, or any other associated gear beyond its intended capacity under normal usage is a waste.

If you purchase a lamp that exhibits mercury-starved behavior, return it to the store in which you bought it.  Trying to purposefully inflict mercury starvation on an Alto by abnormal means isn't going to make Philips suddenly switch to making full-mercury lamps.  That's just my $0.02.

Well, I don't want to abuse the lamp, I like seeing those cool pinkish tones of a mercury starved lamp. I'm not gonna go around killing lamps, it's just called an experiment. Got to step out of the "comfort zone" every onece in a while. And I didn't once mention Phillips, i said GE. Anyways, it was a free lamp and I don't really need it.

It was just an experimental procedure. Nothing further to it.  I tried it on one lamp and discovered it by accident. Tried it on one more lamp to confirm my finding and it was conclusive. 

OK on the Cr@pPRC lamps, they will not last long in most cases. I like the Phillips lamps, they have a very good life unless they are the lamps made for the US market. The export lamps are very good though, though most I get are either Indonesian, Thailand, Polish or French made units, which are head and shoulders above the mainland units.

That said I did get over 5 years out of an Applo lamp, must have been the outlier, I replaced it, and the fitting it was in, rather than order a replacement 3 foot lamp, to standardise lamps.

Note, you can also do mercury migration by running the tube from a bridge rectifier at a higher current, but you have to manual preheat start it for a few seconds or you will kill bridges quite fast ( I used old units to do this, they were from old SMPS units that went bang).

I like doing experiments sometimes too, but I get and use lamps from the recycle center, which were to be trashed anyway.  I then return them "finished off".  I also despise 34 watt T12s and love to trash them!  All the ones I have would have been trashed/recycled anyway.  Many came from relamp jobs I have done.  I never use 34 watt lamps.  Every relamp job I have ever done gets full power lamps, but I do not throw away lamps saved from the jobs.  It is fun to light up a 34 watt lamp on a 400 watt MH ballast!  For the few minutes it is on, it is brighter than a 215 watt 8 foot VHO!  They die quicker than a 28 watt F32T8!  I nearly melted down a mercury starved GE ECOLUX F40T12 lamp that would not light on preheat.  It got so hot that it lost vacuum, yet never did light up fully.  The pink/purple color did turn much more red though!

What's pretty interesting to do is to break off one end of a F32T8 near the base, then shoot a bottle rocket into it. When it hits the other ends and pops, it often ruptures the glass.

Damn Luminaire! I thought I was the only one who had ever done something so crazy/silly! LOL

Agree that its a waste. Whenever i need EOL lamp, i go to the trash and pick out an EOL lamp - dont kill a good one

Ash: The lamp that Luminaire that made it deliberately to mercury starved was a US Philips ALTO.
It did this to unload his fury on these Philips ALTO fluorescents, that mercury starvation is their main end of life mechanism, and their output is lower then full mercury lamps, and they tends to have long run-up time and to have very short lamp life.
Both the US Philips and the american EPA, considers these ALTO lamps as "Non hazarodus waste", were in fact they are MORE HAZARODUS WASTE, because they are replaced way more frequently and are less lights than full mercury fluorescents and produces more mercury from the power stations.

Yet not a reason to _create_ hazardous waste from what otherwise would be working lamps, even if not for long