Replacing bulb question

[skae310]

Hey im about due to change my bulbs in my biocube and I have one main question. (For those of you not familiar with the lights in the system they are 2x24 watt pc bulbs. one is actinic, other is 10000 k daylight.) Anyways since the lights are going to be different than the old ones should I replace on bulb at a time? and if so how much time in between should I wait to replace the other. This is a pretty simple question, but I got a good bit of coral life in there and I am not taking any chances.

 

[Sadielynn]

Nope just do them at the same time as a rule of thumb the PC lights can go 1 year before the spectrum starts to shift ...
I do mine on my birthday and take a sharpie and mark the ceramic ends on the dates ... HTH

 

[skae310]

ok thanks. and yeah it has been a year which is why im changing.

 

[cmor1701d]

I agree to do both at the same time, but the spectrun of PC start changing sooner than a year. I recommend changing the bulbs every 7 - 9 months.

T5's supposedly can go 18 months and MH about a year. LED's about 7 - 10 years.

 

[Sadielynn]

Cmor
I forget where I read this but it was tested and found that they can go a year but some still recommend 6-8 months for change .... I have been doing the 1 year mark on all my nanos and have found no down fall... I still seem to see good growths and no algea growth but that is just me ... I still lean to the annually on PC ... with out a meter and equipment to test it is a guess to each light bulb ...
I would do the LED if my pockets would allow

 

[Big Dog]

Led lighting will cost less in about 5 years.

 

[cmor1701d]

I usually started to see algae growth after 7 or 8 months, so I changed them every 6. I still have 4 actinics in the box from Hello Lights.

LEDs are coming down in price every month as new vendors enter the fray. But, you need to research each offering to make sure they will emit the proper spectrum for coral growth.

 

[skae310]

LED seems like its becoming the way to go. I was thinking of possibly adding some leds to my current setup for a bit more power, but I am mainly cant afford it as of now. But yeah i have heard the difference of opinion in changing pc bulbs. Mainly I planned to change every year unless a problem has been noticed and for me eveything has been fine with them and therefore havent changed until now.