PC bulb life

[c0mf0rt]

I keep hearing six months for the life of lights... and then other conflicting stories....

My question is how long do you go between bulb changes for PC's ?

 

[lando]

9mo. is the norm. You may be able to strech it out to 12.

 

[c0mf0rt]

Thanks lando.

 

[klam]

anything near 12 months is pushing it.

 

[fishfreek]

I also favor the 9month timeframe for PC's. For VHO's I go 12 months. Something to consiter when trying to decide on what type to buy.

 

[captivereefs]

9 months. Afer that the light output falls off real fast and the CRI (color rendition index) is all screwed up and a spectrum change starts in the bulb.

 

[fishfreek]

What I find so amazing is that all us salty people know there is a limit to PC bulb life but every time I post the 9 month life limit of PC bulbs on the FW forums I get shot down that I dont know what I am talking about and you can run them till they burn out.

 

[c0mf0rt]

LOL..... we're so smart...

 

[wahoo_drew]

LOL..... we're so smart...

LMAO is that it or is it that we like spending money on our tanks

 

[fishfreek]

I can tell you there is a noticable different in my PC lights from month 1 to month 9. If I can notice the difference then that means the corals have been noticing the difference for quite a while longer.

 

[Bang Guy]

Lux meters are cheap and will tell you exactly when to change a bulb. FW doesn't have a lot of photosynthetic corals so they don't have the same need we do.

 

[fishfreek]

Maybe not but they do have alot of photosynthetic plants.