Lighting?
- Thread starter angelspot
- Start date
subie41ife
Member
im far from an expert but I would stick with the same type bulbs you have if everything in your tank has been happy. I feel like change can run into problems when you dont need them. To change the bulbs you would want to do it in a slow process so you dont shock any of the corals.
scsinet
Active Member
You've got 18 months on VHOs? Whoa yah... it's time.
I've personally never run into issues changing lighting suddenly, but given how old those lamps are, it's going to be a significant change... so going one lamp at a time couldn't hurt. Do one lamp per week until all four are changed over.
By the way... if you did decide to change to different lamps... this sounds like a DIY fixture or a retro... so it shouldn't be too tough to switch to T5 lamps. A 660 will drive them just fine and will in fact overdrive them... you get reduced life, but T5s have to be changed only one fourth as often as VHO... so you'll still be replacing lamps far less often. So if you get yourself four T5 lamps, a set of endcaps for each, and a clip on individual reflector for each lamp, you'll be golden.
Nominal life for a T5 is 24 months or so, so figure 18 months with them being overdriven. That's a whole lot better than the 6 month life expentency of VHOs.
I've personally never run into issues changing lighting suddenly, but given how old those lamps are, it's going to be a significant change... so going one lamp at a time couldn't hurt. Do one lamp per week until all four are changed over.
By the way... if you did decide to change to different lamps... this sounds like a DIY fixture or a retro... so it shouldn't be too tough to switch to T5 lamps. A 660 will drive them just fine and will in fact overdrive them... you get reduced life, but T5s have to be changed only one fourth as often as VHO... so you'll still be replacing lamps far less often. So if you get yourself four T5 lamps, a set of endcaps for each, and a clip on individual reflector for each lamp, you'll be golden.
Nominal life for a T5 is 24 months or so, so figure 18 months with them being overdriven. That's a whole lot better than the 6 month life expentency of VHOs.