How long do the VHO actinic bulbs last?

[Nanook01]

Functionally, do the VHO actinic bulbs do anything for the corals or are they mainly aesthetic?? I am curious as to how long I should keep them before replacing them. I have two VHO 110w bulbs over my 120g, with 2-250w HQI pendants. The bulbs are mainly for dawn/dusk effects, at least that is what is in the back of my mind. How long do you keep them before replacing them? Thanks,

Nanook

 

[Neal358]

your corals will definitaly benifet from the antic lighting vho,s need to be replased every 6 months

 

[yznhmr]

i thought if you are running a icecap( who isnt?) on your vhos. they would last 1 year+ ...

 

[Andy2]

From IceCap:
We suggest when using an IceCap VHO ballast you replace actinic lamps every year. Other VHO lamps can go two years, especially if you use quality bulbs like URI lamps.
Andy

 

[Anonymous]

Andy - Two years!? This is really good news, but do you have any info to back this up? I can believe that the spectrum may not change much, but doesn't the intensity go down a lot after a year? It would make me really happy to see a chart of URI bulb intensity fallout over time using IceCap ballasts.