Change out Flurescent Light?

[Fishy1954]

My flurescennt bulb is not burned out yet, but a salesperson at the LFS says it should be changed anyways every 10 months because the light spectrum changes in the bulb and can cause Algae to grow. Any truth to this.

Also my second bulb in my hood is a blue flurescent. Why? Would my tank show better with 2 white flurescents instead of 1 white and 1 blue?

Thanks

 

[Alshain]

In answer to the first question, yes you should replace them every 10-12 months (maybe longer for PC).

In answer to the second question, the blue bulb is actinic which is ultimately useless for freshwater plants. If you replace it with a daylight bulb equal to the other, you will have approximately double the useable light output. It won't improve appearances that much but will improve plant growth.

Head over to the planted tanks forum for more information on lighting. If you don't have plants then you need not worry about changing bulbs until they burn out.

 

[greenmaji]

FW algae needs the same light spectum as FW plants (just less of it).
So the question would be do you have FW plants or plans on keeping them in the near future?
With an 03 in the mix your chances of having enough light to promote algae is pretty slim IMHO.