new bulbs again?

[dadstank]

in three weeks it will be 1 year since i changed my bulbs.
1. 250W 10,000K halide
2. 9W 10,000K coralife powercompacts
2. 9W blue actinic coralife powercompacts

when do i need to change them again? in three weeks? a few months?

is there a way to tell that they are ready to change other than a time frame?

 

[trido]

You should change the MH any time real soon and change the PCs about four or five months ago. JMO.

 

[Anonymous]

MH should be changed 6-12 months depending on the bulbs and PC's at 6-8 months. Your MH are good for about 12 months depending on usage.

 

[Len]

I change everything yearly to keep it simple.

 

[Anonymous]

I change mine yearly which was last week. ARGH the spendy part of the hobby lol

 

[MartinE]

I change everything yearly to keep it simple.

I usually do this as well, have not noticed any problems.

 

[bleedingthought]

How often do you guys change out your actnic bulbs, though?

 

[MartinE]

How often do you guys change out your actnic bulbs, though?

I dont know about len but I do mine at the same time as the MH. Maybe I'm cheap, or lazy, or both. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

How often do you guys change out your actnic bulbs, though?

Once a year since I use them for supplamentation on a MH system.

 

[bleedingthought]

So, you do all your bulbs in one shot?

 

[MartinE]

So, you do all your bulbs in one shot?

Usually yes.

 

[Anonymous]

Nope. I do half every 6 months.

 

[barbra]

If you change an entire bank of lighting at once you may find that you need to reaclimate your corals to the new intensity. I would place a piece of eggcrate over the tank for the first few days until the corals get used to their newly brightened sun.

Actinics are good for a year too, but remember that just because you can see the light does not mean that you haven't experienced substantial spectrum-shift.

 

[Anonymous]

If you change an entire bank of lighting at once you may find that you need to reaclimate your corals to the new intensity. I would place a piece of eggcrate over the tank for the first few days until the corals get used to their newly brightened sun.

Actinics are good for a year too, but remember that just because you can see the light does not mean that you haven't experienced substantial spectrum-shift.

Good advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Ditto. Yearly but spread out over a few weeks to acclimate coral to the new sun.

 

[Anonymous]

I change my 250 mh 10k every 18 months give or take. Never saw a problem.

Ya know, I asked a lighting guy about this, someone I deal with on large scale lighting for my business, they make mh, he told me that is bunk about changing them out and that they lose color after a year. He says they can easily go a couple of years.

Just to be safe, I still do change them at my own interval.

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO the interval really varies depending on the lamp and ballast in question. I've used good quality German 10K DE halide lamps for 18+ months with no issues and I'm sure I could have gone longer. I also know people who've used the old Mogul Iwasaki 6500K lamps for well over 2 years at a time with no problems. The bluer lamps that are more popular today don't seem to last as long.