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[ryanrichter]

What do most of you do with old MH lights? Throw them away? Also, does VHO's change spectrum when they get old like MH's do?

[captexas]

I still have all my old halide bulbs, never used them their full life as I tried different ones. As I don't have any other use for them, I imagine they will end up in the trash. Yes, VHO's do change as they get older. It is generally recommended to change VHO bulbs every 6 months, but many people use them longer than that.

[GaryP]

Just a word of environmental concern. While it is legal to throw away bulbs from household use, they are a hazardous waste. They contain a fairly large amount of mercury and a few other possible heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Remember that if it goes to the land fill, you have a good chance of drinking it later.

I noticed my new URI VHO bulbs are labeled with the symbol Hg, which is the chemical symbol for mercury.

The environmentally responsible way to dispose of them would be to take them to the city household hazardous waste collection site. The one in San Antonio is on Culebra across Northside Stadium. Its open on Thur. & Fri. I'm not sure where the site in Austin is located, but I know they have one. Call the city waste department for info.

Gary

BTW, an LFS is not exempt like household bulbs are and they cannot legally send old bulbs to the landfill, but I doubt many realize this.

[Instar]

URI bulbs - max 6 months. All bulbs change spectrum and deteriorate with use. Sometimes they burn out completely by then. The company rates them for 6 months for reefs according to their fine print. Its not worth the coral loss by keeping them a year unless you don't keep any sps. In the medical field, we set a timer on the bulbs and when they hit their max useful hours, they're disposed of. We have very good lamp sources for instrumentation, but, they get changed on a regular basis because the spectrum goes out of useful range. Though sps can adapt, sooner or later they will get to a point where they can't thrive and when thats reached, mortality rate sets in on the colonies. Change bulbs every 6 months if you keep sps and never live to regret it. Waiting too long means troubles, bleaching with new bulbs and so on, even with mushrooms as they all adjust to the light source.