True confessions

[Anonymous]

How long do HQI halides last?

My corals grow like weeds and I think mine were obtained in 2005 or 2006. I can't remember, but they are quite old. Since the color doesn't seem to have shifted, and the corals grow to the point where I have to weed stuff out, I decided to let it go for awhile.

Also, how long can you get away with not changing water? (Just curious in this case.)

 

[Anonymous]

"Last" is a trick term, since they don't just "go out" like a regular lightbulb might. With electronic ballasts you'll typically get dimmer and dimmer bulbs. With magnetic ballast the brightness stays more or less constant after a while but it draws more power (a Kill-a-watt meter is a good way to see if your bulbs are sucking too much juice). Typically bluer bulbs (20000K) need to be changed out more often than yellower ones (10000K). I'd say around 9-12 month barrier start looking for a replacement, of course also depends how long they're on in a day.

Also how do you determine if the color has shifted? Simply looking at it might not be sufficient, as you get used the color each day as it gradually shifts.

Water Changes: Depends upon the tank, lots of fish, lots of feeding, lots of pooping, symptoms start popping up a bit quicker. I had my soft coral tank for over a year plus without anything resembling a water change and it did fine, with anemone too, but then again there were very few fish, the soft corals sure did like the excess nutrients, etc. My "pretty" SPS tank, I've gone a couple months (got side tracked) with no noticeable damage though.

 

[Posh]

I am curious to know how your algae growth is doing with bulbs that are that old.

 

[Anonymous]

I am curious to know how your algae growth is doing with bulbs that are that old.

http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic131094.html :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Also how do you determine if the color has shifted?

I make sure I was not moving toward the lamp when I watch for the color shift, otherwise, it would look a lot more blue than otherwise...

I think mine is about 4 or 5 yrs old, although I have a few new ones in the garage that I can replace it with.

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: Doppler gotcha!

Also, you should make sure you never try to check the color shift during an earthquake.