250 w mh 20k life span?

[king kong]

I purchased (3) 250w MH 20k Radiums in December or November..started to get some funky green red algae i replaced bulbs and it went away. but seems like short life span on these 20k's. ordered new bulbs today just seems kinda odd. I am sure the worn lights cause this algae. anyone else have this problem with bulbs?

[smeese]

some people say 6 months.....I say 9 months to a year. JMO I know a guy that has ran his for over 2 years , I think he is waiting for them to burn out. LOL

[Mr.Reef]

I change mine once a year. And order new one's two months in advace before replaceing the soon to be one year old bulbs. Because sometimes when ordering new bulbs they come cracked or completely busted.

[Sizzlersonthebrain]

Ballast has a lot to do with lifespan.

[smeese]

How so....never thought of this

Originally Posted by Sizzlersonthebrain

Ballast has a lot to do with lifespan.

[epidemic]

I like Iwasaki's (not the color) but dont shift colors. They stay the same throughout their lifespan.

[capman]

Corals do great under Iwasaki's and some of my corals seem to maybe develop their best colors under them (pink birdsnest, and Larry Jackson's Purple-tipped Monster), but on my display tank I've been using a XM 10K bulb (plus actinics) because the tank looks cooler with this bulb. I usually stretch the use of the Iwasakis out to 2 years or so (and my XM is getting up there in age too).

Sorry, this is sort of wandering off topic from what you asked.

[David Grigor]

I used 400W 20K Radiums for 4 years. With mine, the corals would tell you when it's time, a select few corals ( not all ) would start to loose some color ( I'm guessing it was more of a intensity loss than a color shift in bulbs ) when it was time. The absolute max amount of time before the coral indicators was 8 months.

For me this was the best way to know......

[Dwayne]

You're supposed to replace them.

I agree with Daivd, wait for your tank to tell you its time.