MH question please

[jumpincactus]

As I grow closer to replacing bulbs, I wanted to ask what is the typical life of Ushio mogul 10,000 K bulbs? Mine are 5 months old how long before I should consider changing them out?

Second question, I want to get a more blue spectrum in my tank for coral coloration, but dont want to have it much darker than the 2-250 10,000k and the 96 watt blue actinics. I am told that the higher the K rating the bluer but darker the tank will get.

My SPS growth is really rocking with the 10's. How much more blue will I realise just by keeping the 10k and adding two more blue actinics. This way I would not compromise my SPS growth and have the bluer look I am seeking.

Will adding 2 more BA make much of a difference with the bluer look I want?

 

[fungia]

hello. i change mine out every year almost to the day. you still have a lot of good life with only 5 months, i would keep it running at least 3 more months.

 

[Len]

Hey jump,

I've run PAR meters on bulbs and they seem to do well up to about 10 months, and that's when their intensity starts to fall off noticably. I think fungia's 12 month schedule is a nice time frame. Of course, this is based on a limited sampling.

The more blue the bulb, the less PAR it has as a general trend. However, there are some nice bluer bulbs that you can consider which don't give up much in terms of PAR. The Ushio 14K is a nice bulb. It's very bright and bluer (though still white) then your 10K. Aquaconnect 14K are very blue and bright, but they are also very expensive at about $150 each (and hard to find). If your 10Ks are doing well, adding two actinics will make a visible difference. I don't know if it will be as much difference as you're looking for, but it's worth a try. More light = better anyhow

 

[trido]

FWIW. I swithced out the 10k with the actinic I had in the garage the day after you left. I was feeling like the frag you gave me as well as a couple others were/are starting to lose color. Then again, my MH bulb on that side is ten months old.
I think the the best way for you to truely get a real opinion on the difference between 10 and 14k is to bring your tank up here for a while. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

10000k bulbs should last a bit longer than bluer bulbs, I notice 14000k hamilitons seem to go crap happy after about 6-7 months, because when you put a new bulb there is a night and day difference in intensity. What I like to do is have a good 3-4 month swap time difference between bulbs just so I have something else to compare to as far as intensity.

Also if you run them "hotter" ie with the HQI ballasts or something you will burn them out sooner.