Life of Halides

[jeffyounggren]

How often do you need to change your halides? My bulbs are over a year old and seem fine, but what do I know.

Jeff

 

[gcarroll]

I change mine perferably at 9 months. I could go longer but I haven't had to.

 

[Stoney Mahony]

Try this, Go ahead and save up for the replacement. When you get it, light them up side by side and you can see for your self. If you think the old one keep using it till you don't like it. The problem is that every different bulb ages differently depending on your lighting schedule, bulb maker, kelvin rating and wattage. I have heard that people have to change out 400w 20K radiums after 6 months but I have also read of 10K 400w ushios lasting well over a year. Also 20K's seem to change spectrum alot quicker than the 10k's.

 

[fishypets]

I replace my bulbs every 840 hours or 4 months. This may be overkill but works for me and someone is always to buy my used bulbs.

 

[jeffyounggren]

I guess one year sounds long enough but I don't want to replace them if this is just a superstitious ritual.

 

[ALTI]

only way to really know is to measure the par with a light meter. visual appearance is a bad way to compare intensity. ive noticed some sps beginning to brown up abit after about 10 months with my 10k xm's. they color back up after i replacethe bulbs at 12 months so they definately do lose some intensity somewhere around the year mark. there are so many differences in ballast/bulb/photoperiod combos that there is definately no set rule.

 

[Stoney Mahony]

Just to clarify, the visual comparrison is to see how much your kelvin rating has shifted from the original bulb. Definately not an accurate way of gauging intensity. I agree with Alti that you would need a light meter to measure intensity. I have run 20K XM's for 6 months and when compared on a light meter they par barely changed but when compared side by side to a new bulb, the old seemed much more yellow. Spectral and intensity shifts are two very different aspects. The bulb color can change much quicker than the intensity so it depends what your looking for. Would'nt it be nice if they made a Par meter with a built in color spectrum(kelvin) guage that was affordable? IMO every 4 months is way overkill on changing out bulbs. Look up your bulb on google and find out the manufacturer specs, they should tell you, or if you have the original bulb packaging they usually have bulb life information printed on them somewhere.

 

[jjjimmy]

I don't know about any one else, but my corals tell me when it is time to change the bulbs.

 

[Wiskey]

Depends on the bulb, I have a friend who ran XM 10K for 2 years and there was very little light dropoff (measured W/ LUX meater). I have also seen a 6 month old Hammi drop off output by 30%.

Whiskey

 

[jeffyounggren]

Ok, so just to keep it simple, it probably is good to get old bulbs out at one year.

Jeff

 

[Ti]

I aim for for about 10-12 months

 

[gflat65]

I go 6 months on VHO's and PC's, 9 months on SE's, and 12 months on DE's. I run 10K's and 12K's, so this should keep me in a good spot. I creates a number of useable spares, too.