how long do you use a bulb over your aquarium?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Iwasaki MH 3+ years before change out over here.
My current 14K Ushio SE MH are approaching 3 years old.
Radiums seemed to peter out after less than a year.
VHO's.. probably only good for 10-12 months max.

 

[kcrush4989]

Iwasaki MH 3+ years before change out over here.
My current 14K Ushio SE MH are approaching 3 years old.
Radiums seemed to peter out after less than a year.
VHO's.. probably only good for 10-12 months max.

3+ years before changing, that's crazy. How was the growth at that stage of bulb life? How was the color? I'm looking to replace my 400w radium with something else. What might you suggest? I have mostly sps and I would like to see more growth.

Thanks,

 

[Capt_Cully]

Going on 2 years with some Phoenix 14ks.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

Phoenix 14 K until they blow. (Going on three + years now).

 

[Willistein]

2+ years on my radium 250s. Good to see I'm not the only cheap one around here, ha ha. One of my bulbs seems to struggle to come on but the color looks good still. When i replace them I'd like to get before and after par.

 

[oneradtek202]

my radiums start acting up around 10 months with sometimes not firing being overdriven, I would love to make them last longer but once a year here

 

[SkiFletch]

I used Hamilton 14K 175watt lamps over my 65 for 3 years till I really saw a color shift. Replaced them after about that. They definitely last longer than "you" think.

 

[Jetsam]

I don’t feel so bad now… Currently running 8, 60” Giesemann T5’s, with 3 Icecap 660’s
Bulbs are almost 24 months old. Trying to hold out until I can upgrade and afford LED’s. I cheat by replacing 1 bulb in the mix here and there.

 

[low riderr]

when i was using mh i changed out my bulbs once a year.and everytime i did i could see a big diffrence in color with the new bulbs.i couldnt imagine goin over a year and a half.but now i have leds (diy) and dont have to worry about it.

 

[johnike]

Plusrites, once a year whether they need it or not.
Note to self: Order new bulbs, it's been over a year.

 

[Capt_Cully]

when i was using mh i changed out my bulbs once a year.and everytime i did i could see a big diffrence in color with the new bulbs.

I would agree with this.

Just being lazy. It's not my normal behavior. I used to change em out every 9-12 months....before daycare was bending me over. I'm looking forward to a new set, but things seem quite happy at the moment.

If given appropriate acclimation, I've been amazed with the response of certain (not all) corals to LEDs.

 

[ReeferSteve78]

I have the reefbreeders leds and can't be any happier. It's been 2 weeks and my corals love them. I used to have MH and changed the bulbs very year since I needed 3 and they cost a lot but now I have no worries and can change my led bulbs on my reefbreeders lights just to get a good layout for my corals

 

[tent boy]

I thought the rule of thumb was to replace them every year or you would get algae problems because of the wave length changes, blah blah blah. Not true?

 

[Capt_Cully]

True to a degree IME, but probably not as bad as you'd expect.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

I thought the rule of thumb was to replace them every year or you would get algae problems because of the wave length changes, blah blah blah. Not true?

I'm of the school of thought that excess nutrients cause algae, not spectrum shift. That said, some spectra may favor nuisance algae, but if you can keep nutrients in check, you can prevent it.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

When I started reefkeeping 5500k MH was "state of the art" and THAT's what I was running. I don't care how much a modern day higher k bulb shifts, it's NOT going down to 5500k (which is the kelvin of natural sunlight at high noon)
... so... the very common belief that spectrum shift causes algae problems is misunderstood.
If red shift is causing algae blooms in a reef aquarium it's because PO4 and/or something else (in the water) is outta whack NOT "old bulbs".

For all the noobs: there are areas on wild coral reefs where algae grow. Cyanobacteria, too. IT'S NATURAL AND IT'S ALL LOCATED UNDER THE SAME LIGHTING: our sun :fun4:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

3+ years before changing, that's crazy. How was the growth at that stage of bulb life? How was the color?

I took that pic in my avatar a couple of weeks ago. My calcium reactor was turned up another notch this morning and it's pretty much maxed out.

 

[michael.lemke]

Wow, maybe I'll switch back to mh and not change them so much!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Wow, maybe I'll switch back to mh and not change them so much!

difficult to discern if you're being sarcastic or not... but really, the only MH lamps I've had to change out yearly were 20k's.

I'm not a big fan of the "blue look", anyways.

 

[SkiFletch]

there are areas on wild coral reefs where algae grow. Cyanobacteria, too.

Yup, seen plenty in-the-flesh so to speak. There wouldn't be any sea turtles if there wasn't algae on reefs for them to eat...