Bulbs or Ballast need replacing?

[davidmwj]

Hello:
Please help. I'm having a lighting problem in my tank and I fear I'm about to lose my clam as I recognized the issue too late. I know now that it's the lighting as my Sebae Anemone has begun stretching up toward the light. Also, getting that film on the glass. I just don't know if the ballast went bad or if the lights are used up already. Here's the dates I bought and hourly info:
On a 90 Gallon, I have a 48" 6X54 Nova Extreme Pro that I put in place in January 2011.
I replaced the bulbs in early January 2012 with 4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus, 1 ATI Aquablue Special and this is also when I got the clam. That's why I was caught off guard. I am surprised that I need lights already and hence my question. I don't want to throw more bulbs at this lamp for only a 10 month life. I'm on a limited tank budget these days. I thought the T-5's were supposed to last up to a year and a half and these have a shorter life than the power fluorescent lamp I previously had.
I run the blues from 1:30pm to 10:30pm and all lights from 2:30pm to 10:00pm.
fyi, the tank has been up for somewhere around 8 years.
Thanks for any help.

 

[snakeblitz33]

It may not be your lights... have you checked your water parameters lately? Are you feeding them properly?
If you do decide to replace the ATI bulbs, try UVL bulbs... 4x454 blues and 1xpink and 1x white They are slightly cheaper than ATI but also have excellent PAR. I am using six of these bulbs over my 75g SPS dominated tank.
Your tank is a little taller than my 75g too... so maybe you should have actually gone with an 8x54w T5HO fixture instead of a 6x.
I hope some more people can chime in and help. I'm just letting you know my observations from what you have told us.

 

[davidmwj]

Never mind, it's my coral beauty. He's been in the tank about 4 months. I originally thought it might be him, but then when I saw that the anemone rising up, I figured, lights. I raised the clam up off the sand yesterday and it opened all the way up. Now it's not opening again and is no longer attached to his rock. The little @%&T goes up to clean the shell and then for his last bite takes a nip of the mantle.
My parameters are good. PH 8.2, Alk 11 dkh (just buffered yesterday, I don't keep it that high), Calcium 380, 0 Nitrates, Temp 77, My salinity may be a little bit high at 38ppm, but it's water from the ocean by way of my lfs. The fish are fine with the salinity.
Tomorrow, I'm taking off from work an pulling rock out to catch him. He'll be lucky if he makes it back to the store...
Thanks for replying.