So, I brought this up a few months ago but I still don't know what really happened to a bulb that went mercury starved... I got a Satco f4t5/cw, I was messing around with it one night at the beach running it cold cathode, it was already eol from cold cathode but I ran it more cold cathode. The bulb was slightly warm when it came out, I stuck it in the freezer because I was bored, 10-20 minutes later, I pulled it out ready for actual use but it was pink and mercury starved! Any idea how a bulb can go mercury starved in such a small amount of time? Damaged seal that was opened for a second from a jolt? The Satco bulbs had a bit less mercury than regular bulbs but it was still standard cw and brightness when run hot cathode.

Looks like the lamp got impurities, and hence the color.

Wouldn't it come with impurities? 10 min in freezer doesn't sound like enough time for the bulb to even get that cold.

As both ends blackened and the lamp working with cold cathodes, these areas overheats, and tiny cracks forms. This can cause impurities to get into the tube.
Freezing the lamp and than operate it, can results in similar cracks. This was happened once to me with one of my Osram HWL 160W after freezing it: https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-75963

That makes sense, wouldn't it be even more likely if the bulb was warm due to the quick heat change?