cracked bulb?

[fishieness]

hey everyone. i'm "downgrading" my lighting from a 400 watt MH to a 250 watt de. (i put the quotation marks because i am also downgrading tanks form a 40 breeder to a 10 gallon )... anyways. i have the fixture but just bought a new bulb. the outermost piece of glass is slightly cracked. it's a coralife bulb so it is just the UV protection screen. im pretty sure this will have no affect on the bulb, especialy since i know there are normaly vent holes in the sockets of a SE bulb. but i was just wondering in case any of you have ever had any negative experiences or impacts because of this problem.
thanks!

 

[kidreef]

250w is gonna fry the fish or is that the point r u just to lazy to buy a fryer

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by fishieness
hey everyone. i'm "downgrading" my lighting from a 400 watt MH to a 250 watt de. (i put the quotation marks because i am also downgrading tanks form a 40 breeder to a 10 gallon )... anyways. i have the fixture but just bought a new bulb. the outermost piece of glass is slightly cracked. it's a coralife bulb so it is just the UV protection screen. im pretty sure this will have no affect on the bulb, especialy since i know there are normaly vent holes in the sockets of a SE bulb. but i was just wondering in case any of you have ever had any negative experiences or impacts because of this problem.
thanks!
I know someone on another board that had a DE lamp break like that. It left a small hole and it was enough to really screw up his corals that were near the lamp. He actually found the cracked lamp while working with the tank to find out what was messing with the corals. Not worth the risk IMO.

 

[fishieness]

there is no hole in thi one though. it is jut a tiny crack. and it is even on the back end of the bulb, so nothing is going to be in direct contact. also, since it is DE, it has the UV glass on the pendant.
but yeah. i figured id probably just be replacing it but i was wondering what other people thought.