How often do you change your lightbulbs?
- Thread starter taralm13
- Start date
t5ho... yearly
cfl... ~6mos
t8/t12... 6-9mos
you can tell by your plants if you don't want to purchase a meter. you could tell with a submersible lux meter if you don't want to buy a par meter. if you purchase a par meter you'll know exactly when before you have issues. if you really wanted to you could use a non-submersible lux meter above the tank or outside of the tank. the best way would be with a par meter by far. that is the only meter that measure usable light output for plants directly. par= photosynthetically active radiation.
cfl... ~6mos
t8/t12... 6-9mos
you can tell by your plants if you don't want to purchase a meter. you could tell with a submersible lux meter if you don't want to buy a par meter. if you purchase a par meter you'll know exactly when before you have issues. if you really wanted to you could use a non-submersible lux meter above the tank or outside of the tank. the best way would be with a par meter by far. that is the only meter that measure usable light output for plants directly. par= photosynthetically active radiation.
I have a 40g with (2) 65w CF's, I alternate them every 6 months, write the install date on the base with a sharpie . . one's fresh, ones 3 months old approx. One could prob stretch it to 8 months
Who makes a PAR meter and what do they cost? I have a lux meter in the box since Christmas, but I'll probably break it out of the box to measure the old bulbs versus the new bulbs tomorrow if my repair goes as planned.
I'll change my every two years. I believe yearly would be better, but bulbs aren't cheap anymore.
There's a big difference between plant growth when changing to fresh bulbs, especially after two years.
-John N.
There's a big difference between plant growth when changing to fresh bulbs, especially after two years.
-John N.
apogee... ~$350... sometimes you can find or start a group buy and get them closer to ~$250. reefers are a lot more likely to use them/want them so checking reef sites or including them in group buys really is the way to go. i tried to get in on a group buy a while back but i missed it by about a week... argh!
looks like everyone has taken recommendations or looked it up and judged for themselves to me... not necessarily that they do it different.
i see no mention of shop bulbs other than mine (t/8-t/12).
i see consistency among cfl's (~6 months).
t5ho can technically go 2 years and still produce decent light but after a year if you're already bordering on lower lighting you may need to replace them. i suspect john n has a decent amount of light on his tanks and therefore can stretch them out longer.
staggering changing times will also help keep things consistent. let's say you're using cfl's and stretch them out to 8 months then change both bulbs at the same time. when you buy your bulbs the first couple weeks they'll produce a lot more light then they ever will again... it's called a burn in period. then they level out a bit and the decrease in output becomes a lot more gradual. so changing both at the same time can significantly increase the amount of light getting in your aquarium. it could be and often is too much and sometimes is cause for an algae outbreak.
i see no mention of shop bulbs other than mine (t/8-t/12).
i see consistency among cfl's (~6 months).
t5ho can technically go 2 years and still produce decent light but after a year if you're already bordering on lower lighting you may need to replace them. i suspect john n has a decent amount of light on his tanks and therefore can stretch them out longer.
staggering changing times will also help keep things consistent. let's say you're using cfl's and stretch them out to 8 months then change both bulbs at the same time. when you buy your bulbs the first couple weeks they'll produce a lot more light then they ever will again... it's called a burn in period. then they level out a bit and the decrease in output becomes a lot more gradual. so changing both at the same time can significantly increase the amount of light getting in your aquarium. it could be and often is too much and sometimes is cause for an algae outbreak.