HQI-MH and 54W T5HO lights

[artur]

I have Outer Orbit HQI / T5HO lights <150W 10.000K HQI, 4-54W T5>. I bought them 16 months ego. When should i replace them? HQI for a year run only for 3 hours a day < i did not have high light corals> for last 4 months i run them for 4 hours, that gives them around 1600 work hours. T5 I run for 8 hours a day < 3800 hours total> Should I replace them now or I still have time. Tank and corals still looks great. And those T5 ,two of them are 420 nm and two 460 nm actinic. What is the diffrence and what is better for corals. <I think maybe the blue output?> And my MH are 10.000K. Is this o.k or should I buy diffrent like 14.000K? Thank You!!!!!

 

[cmor1701d]

NOW!, MH bulbs should be replaced annually, T5 are supposedly good for about 15 -18 months.

OK, the MH at only 3 ours per day can probably go another 6 - 8 months. The T5's should go now. 420nm is True actinic and penetrates a little deeper than 460nm (more blue). You probably want to stick with 10k on the MH. 12k will be slightly bluer, 14k more so. At 20k you can skip the T5's.
So with all bulbs in play, a 14k MH might make the tank look too blue.