Halide bulb longevity

[mordibv]

Just curious
I see a lot of posts with users running halide bulbs for 2 ,3 + years before swapping them out.
I would personally never do this and rarely run a bulb 11 or 12 months before changing it out.
I could see this thought on a refugium but not a display tank with corals.
Am I missing out on some info or wasting my money?
Please keep in mind I am not referring to radium bulbs in this post as they are a different breed of halide bulb.

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[Turbosnail]

I try to change every 11-12 months myself.

 

[JohnK]

It depends a lot on the type of lamp. Typically lower K temp blubs will go a lot longer without too much spectrum shift or loss of intensity. Higher K temp lamps tend to get weaker and shift spectrum much faster. You might get 6-8 months out of a 20K if you're lucky, but it wouldn't be unheard of to get close to 2 yrs out of a 6.5k iwaski.

All that said, most MH lamps will fire long after their intenisty has dropped way off and the spectrum has shifted off into who knows where.

 

[mordibv]

Thanks


I was under that same impression with shift in spectrum to the red area and loss of intensity.
I had no idea Iwasaki's last that long. I have 4 new ones in a box somewhere. Too bad it takes at least 4 vho's with the the iwasaski's to get a good crisp look .



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[JohnK]

Hey, 4x110 VHO plus a 400W iwsaki over a 120G makes for a pretty bleeping cool lighting scheme. Then again, those VHOs only last 6 months.....

I'm happy with my T5's now, but oh the memories.

 

[inverted]

I usually switch out MHs every 12 months or so. Likely they would be good for a bit longer. I haven't seen many longevity tests, this is one of the Phoenix bulb. It shows there is a significant initial drop, but then it actually is a pretty slow decline. Not sure how much this holds with other bulbs. Of course, I currently use a Phoenix, so, I can't say I've spent to long thinking about other bulbs LOL.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php

 

[JohnK]

I agree, there is a lack of solid testing/data out there on this. I was restating what I have taken in over the yrs, but can't say with confidence that it's all corrrect.

FWIW I used to run pheonix 14ks for about a year as well. I could sure see the difference between the old and new blubs, so I always figured that it was pushing it

 

[stingythingy45]

I have 14K DE phoenix now and the bluish look is nice and seems to stay about the same.
But frankly the growth is nothing compared to the Ushio 14 K DE I had for a while.
But when a Ushio gets old it drops off to white yellowish after 10-12 months.

 

[inverted]

I agree, there is a lack of solid testing/data out there on this. I was restating what I have taken in over the yrs, but can't say with confidence that it's all corrrect.

FWIW I used to run pheonix 14ks for about a year as well. I could sure see the difference between the old and new blubs, so I always figured that it was pushing it

I use a little trick myself. I use a Galaxy Select-a-watt ballast. The Phoenix bulbs, even though the one I use is the SE version, are actually still HQI spec'd. So, with the select-a-watt, I run it on the normal 250W setting for the first few months, then switch the ballast to HQI mode once it burns it a bit. Seems to help make up for the drop.

Do wish there was better testing....

 

[jt628]

Hey, 4x110 VHO plus a 400W iwsaki over a 120G makes for a pretty bleeping cool lighting scheme. Then again, those VHOs only last 6 months.....

I'm happy with my T5's now, but oh the memories.

ya, I change out my 2x 180 VHO actinics every 4-5 mos, I have the single ended 250 mh 12k and change every 8 mos, I noticed if you look at them daily, you can tell when it's time to recharge... it loses it's luster so to speak

 

[mordibv]

I wish there was some testing out there too. I.don't have a select a.watt ballast but it a cv model. It seems that bulbs do not Turned whereabouts long on my ballast. I can dim 20% or overdrive 10 % . I saw a video whereabouts they took a 10k and dimmed it. Turned ran it normal. It gave you the perception that u had two bulbs in one.
Yes John , I used to love that vho / Iwasaki combo too . If was the elite set up in it's time.



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