Changing Bulb Frequency

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bbrown

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 11, 2005
Messages
62
Location
Alberta, Canada
Looking for some advice on how often the following have to be replaced:

- power compact lights (coralife)
- HOT5

I recently swapped out a "Powerglow" bulb for a new "Colormax" bulb in my HO system. The bulb only has a very slight tint of pink to it when it is on. A regular T5 colormax appears very pink when on. Could the new bulb be defective or is it supposed to look that way?
 
Different manufacturers will have slight variations in color rendering. You also cannot compare a 6 month old lamp to a brand new lamp, as the color tends to shift toward the red spectrum over time (at least from what I've read) which is why it is suggested to replace your lamps every 12 months for FW planted and every 6 months for SW reef. At least I think that's what is suggested. I don't think the bulb type makes a great deal of difference when talking T5HO versus PL (power compact). Metal Halide could be different, and I'm not knowledgeable in that aspect.

I know that my T8 Max Plant Growth lamps are noticeably redder after over a year of use and they really need to be replaced...just don't have it in the budget right now.
 
PC every 6 - 9 months
T5 can go 12 - 18 months
MH every year for high quality brand names, every 3 -6 months for the cheap chinese ones found on eBay.

HTH
 
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