Don't forget to change those bulbs

i have no clue when i'll need to change me t5's.going on 11months.probably soon.

 

Thanks

What a great post!! Thanks. I just bought one of those spectrometers!!

 

hey all i am new to the hobby so this may seem like a dumb question however is there a set time that lights should be changed out. ie 6 months 1 year???

 

sean-
The issue here is that over time all bulbs shift the from the manufactured spectrum they are supposed to deliver. We are trying to provide our coral as close as possible a light source that will improve their ability to feed and grow. Something that they get naturally from the sun. So when we select bulbs to deliver say 10000K from a metal halide after about a year it usually decays resulting in a shift downward to a value less than we originally wanted for the coral.

Many of us change our Halides annually and our actinics semi-annually. The spectrometer mentioned above can be used to measure what the bulbs are actually delivering so change out timing can be more precise. These bulbs are expensive but so are the animals. So ideally we'd like to keep the bulbs as long as we can.

I'll look for some info on this for you and post it here.

 

Here you go sean.

Lighting the Reef Tank: A Primer for Beginners by Doug Wojtczak - Reefkeeping.com

 

dador,

thank you for the quick reply when i get home from work tonight i am definitely going to read that thread. I appreciate the help.