Old bulbs

[dive girl]

I have some PC bulbs that are coming up to a year old. They are the ones that come with the Current lighting and I use them on my refugium.
What if I keep using those bulbs until they burn out instead of replacing them while they still work but are getting older?
There are no corals in my 'fuge, just macro, crabs, snails, live rock and sand, and 1 fish.

 

[scsinet]

If there are no corals, you'll probably be okay because the kind of stuff you want to grow in a fuge are not as picky about what kind of light they get.

 

[aviator]

Yeah, you're fine. Watch for algea growth, old bulbs tends to make the green stuff appear.

 

[dive girl]

Thanks for the responses!!!
That is what I was thinking but if I'm growing macro in the refugium, wouldn't it like the older lights too? Or is it just the nuisance algae that thrives on it?

 

[aviator]

Mainly "nuisance" algaes, they tend to thrive on the light that most other algae's don't like... like picking up the "trash" light... LOL... don't kow how else to explain it.
Really, you should be fine. When lights age, they lose lumens and can drift in color, but most lights don't drift enough to make that big of a difference, they DO lose enough lumens to make a difference if you're growing corals and such, but for a fuge you'll be fine.

 

[scsinet]

Besides, in a fuge nuisance algae isn't necessarily a bad thing.