Should I swap my bulbs after a year?

[jay24k]

My 180 is a year old now and I've been running XM 10K's for the whole time. I've read the 10K's should be able to easily last a year and a half. My growth is still great so should I switch em?

My concerns are:

I'd rather save a bit of cash by waiting if I could.
Don't want to have to reacclimate the whole tank
Don't want any bleaching.

I wonder if Sanjay or anyone else with the equipment would be willing to accept free a 10K used bulb for 8 hrs a day for a year to see the par drop. It would IMO really close the misconception if there is in fact one.

What have you guys noticed with the XM's? I still get amazing growth. I already swapped my VHO's at 9 months and I could tell a difference obviously with them.

 

[twon8]

you could get one new one and see how big of a difference it is. if a big difference wait a few weeks and get another one, if not, take the new one out and wait a few more months.

 

[marine_freak]

I WOULD NOT GO MORE THAN 14 MONTHS ON A 10K BULB....... BETTER TO SPEND A LITTLE MONEY ESPECIALLY WITH THE MONETARY VALUE SITTING BELOW THOSE BULBS DEPEND ON IT!!!!!!!!

 

[Lunchbucket]

i like switching every year but i am like you i would like to see some proof on when they need to be changed. i suspect the bulb manufacturer will tell you to change sooner than later.

i always shade my tank w/ 1layer of window screen for 5-7days on ANY bubl switch. i'm paranoid and figure better safe then sorry

Lunchbucket

 

[Kip]

seems the longer you wait, the more the corals will have to adjust to the new bulbs.

i asked sanjay what he felt was a good precentage drop in PAR necessary before changing bulbs.... he said there was nothing in black and white, but he wouldnt let a bulb drop out anymore than 30% before changing.

 

[Lunchbucket]

i wonder how long it would take to get a bulb down 30% from full????

Lunchbucket

 

[Kent E]

I would love to see the numbers too but I'm in the one year camp. I once let the bulbs go and it was near disasterous.

 

[ClownReef®]

Doesnt Sanjay keep his bulbs for like 3 years?..lol....I heard he switches them around the tank, but he keeps them for a LONG time..

 

[Kip]

bulb life.... all depends on the bulb brand, spectrum, and ballast... there is no magic blanket statement that will cover all bulbs

i tested this with 400w SE radiums on PFO HQI to see if the 6 months rule was real... sure enough.. it is (if you go by 30% drop)... around 5 months it seems the spectral shift really starts happening (of course... there are gray areas in terms of bulb life with specturm vs PAR)

 

[Wiskey]

I have a friend with 2 XM 10K's on ARO balasts, in Lumanark reflectors in a 170 gallon tank, and his bulbs are going on 2 years.

He still has great growth, and measured with my lux meater, they still put out plenty of light, I don't plan to change mine until their output drops off.

HTH,
Whiskey

 

[jaefei]

I run my light 6 hours in a day.
I don't have any light meter.
how if I use Hi pressure sodium Ballast to run my 250w SE XM 10kk ? when the bulb must be replace ?
I hear that ballast decrease the lifetime of MH bulb.

 

[JB NY]

OK here is the lowdown on XM10K. This applies to the 250 watt bulb.

I been running these lamps for a little over two years.

at 12 months they put out between 10-15% less light than they do in the first 6 months or so. I only tested the lamp at 2 months, 6 months and 12 months. So sometime between 6-12 months is when they start to go down hill. 10% really is not that much though.

The thing you need to know is that a new bulb puts out more PAR until it is broken in. So for the first 120-150 hours it could put out between 10-20% more PAR than when it does when fully broken in. BTW almost all lamps do the same thing.

So. this means that if you swap out you lamps at 12 months, the new lights could possibly put out 30% more PAR than they old. Of course it will drop after the burn in period has past. But this is a main reason people think that they need to change out lamps so often. Basically you see how much brighter they are when you first swap them out, and you think that the difference is solely due to the old lamp.

OK after all that, what do I do? I do change out my lamps normally after 12 months. This time I am breaking down my tank to get ready for a new one, so I see no benefit to changing the lamp at 12 months just to have the new lamp in for 3-4 months before the tank comes down. Right now, I am at 14 months and really do not notice much of a difference.

Hope that makes things clear as mud.

 

[JB NY]

To give you the short answer. If your concern is to save money. I think you can easily push the lamp to 14-15 months without causing problems.

 

[Toddrtrex]

When I switched out my 10K XM (175 watt) They were just over 8 months old. I hadn't noticed anything prior to that being "wrong" but I did one buld at a time (2 over my 58). After the new one burned it, I could really tell a difference, the old one had really shifted to more yellow. Couldn't tell before the new one, but dang.
I can't comment as to improved growth after the switch, because that was about a month before I moved my tank, and removed a couple of fish, but since the move the growth has been great.

 

[jay24k]

Well I have several thousand in SPS so I don't want to risk it. I talked to Sanjay and he would be willing to take them and test them however it would be a "to do" and not sure how long before he would be able to. That's fine by me so I will probably order the new bulbs and then go ahead and ship em. I could even replace my middle one and then in 3 months my left, another 3 the right and send all 3 and he could do an analysis on the bulbs which would be really nice.

Thanks for all your comments guys. I guess it takes a few people knocking you in the head before you realize what is at stake.

 

[Sk8r]

Lunchbucket's screen idea sounds good---I was planning just to reduce the photo period during break-in. But there is that stuff you use for awning over new plants. Hmmn.