PC bulb life

[BA]

Here's a word of warning to all you power compact users out there:

Hamilton claims a 14 month bulb life for pc bulbs, and I believed them. (I upgraded from NO to PC about a year ago). Recently, things weren't quite looking right in my tank (less coral expansion, the development of some ugly brown algae) and taking the advice of the excellent LFS, I replaced the bulbs. What a difference! I would guess that the old bulbs had over a period of use of 11-12 months, lost 50% of their luminosity.

The point of all this is that if you use pc, you should NOT assume that your bulbs will last as long as you might think. I'd say that 9 months is about max, assuming a daily photoperiod of 10-12 hours.

Anybody else have a similar experience?

Best,
BA

[Angel 1]

Well our eyes are not the best at guessing PAR, also any bulb be it no, ho, vho or pc need a 100 hour break in. In the breakin the bubl will lose 10% of its output and after that the loss of light slows down, after 12 months the bulbs still run at 65%.

[BA]

Where do you get your interesting figures? I'd say that 65% is still not too good. Also, I suspect that the spectrum has shifted considerably, prob toward the red, encouraging the growth of nuisance algae and discouraging coral growth. I'll still be changing my bulbs long before the 14 month period is up.

Best,
BA

[This message has been edited by BA (edited 10-17-2000).]

I have seen those figures quoted before. I think Andy from Icecap mentioned 10% loss after burn in then over a year of relatively stabile output on VHO when using their ballast. Harbour Frieght was selling a light meter that measures in lux for about $30 that might be a handy thing to have for determining ouitput on bulbs tho it would not tell you color shift. I think the url is: www.harborfreight.com If anyone knows the correct one please jump in

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