When do you change your halide bulbs?

[dmbnpj]

I have (2) 250watt 10k XM's on my tank. Ive heard rule of thumb is changing the bulbs every 6 months. I have a hard time throwing away $150 worth of bulbs twice a year? Just wondering how long others push their bulbs ?

Thanks for any input!

 

[PiNaPLeX]

for metal halide bulbs it's more like 1 year for between bulb changes. 6-8 months is mainly for PC bulbs.

 

[dmbnpj]

sweet!

 

[Zoalander]

when they burn out, jk. 8-12 months depending on brand.

 

[dmbnpj]

how about XM's?

 

[TrojanScott]

I haven't set up yet, but am going with and just purchased XM's. I was told once a year.

 

[Drakis]

I just changed a 175w xm at one year even though I could not really see a decline in color or brightness, until i put in the new bulb lol

 

[J4Life]

I plan on replacing my XM's 10k, 250 single ends at about 2 years since I run them only 8 hours a day. XM's web site says that they are good for up to 6,000 hours so depending on your photo period you can fiugure out when you should replace them.

I just asked this same ?'s a week or so ago and the average response I got from XM users was 1.5 years.

Hope that helps,
Bill

p.s. Did I mention that I love XM's......

 

[dmbnpj]

good news! thanks....i keep mine on about 8 hrs/day so 1.5-2 yrs. sounds good to me!

 

[J4Life]

dmbnpj,

Just make sure to keep an eye on your corals. If you see any side effects like loss of color or they begin to slow way down in growth then I would go ahead and replace the bulbs then even if its before the 1.5-2 year mark. Remember its all about healthy corals.

Glad I could help.
Bill

 

[TimFountain]

Every year here.

 

[twon8]

i have found nuisance algae appearence is a great indicator of bulb spectrum shifting. my xm 10k only went 3 months before it got really yellow and i got algae everywhere

 

[J4Life]

twon8,

That is a good tip about the algae as well. Sorry to hear that you had problems with the XM. My guess would be that you had a bad bulb. XM's are definitely great bulbs and I think they're very well made also.

Bill

 

[clkwrk]

9 months when over SPS and the another 6-9 months when over softies.

Actually I rotate my SPS bulbs over to the softies to finish the bulbs life.