How often to change my Reeflux SE250s

[Dominican]

I run 3 12k Reeflux SE 250s for 10hrs/day. I've been doing that for 6months, for a total of approx 1800hrs. Is it time to change them? I'm trying to keep my SPS growth steady, and want to change them before it reduces growth rates significantly. What is the rule of thumb you all recommend? In the past I can't say I've been very disciplined about this, but have vowed to change that. Thanks..

[cpreefguy]

Different people will tell you different things...
Some people will say 6-8 months, I went to a presentation by Sanjay and he was saying that people change their bulbs out way too often and some can be used for three times that long before they really start to go downhill.

[Dominican]

Hi Sean. That controversy is what I'm finding. The question is.. What do you think? What have you all had success with??

[Dominican]

I'm running them all on ARO ballasts.. In case anyone wants to go that technical.

[alton]

Buy a light meter and check often. If you can keep from changing lamps from 8 months to 18 months like I do you can save money and the meter pays for itself fast. I have electronic ballast powering my Reeflux lamps. Also it depends on whether you have a glass lense protecting your lamps or they are open to the water.

[BIGBIRD123]

I was at the same seminar as Sean and Sanjay. Sanjay, whom I and 100K others, think is the utmost authority, States that even at 18 months the bulbs loose less than 10% of the par. He states, based on his reaserch that the bulbs just require more electricty to obtain the par, in a basic conclusion...they are still efficient at 18 months but requrie more electricy to function. Just my $ 0.25...

Steve

[Dominican]

Thanks for expanding, Steve. I'll relax a little. To Alton's point, maybe a reasonable approach would be to get a light meter and start testing at around the 12mo mark. That way I could get a baseline for my exact conditions..

[brewercm]

I'd have to say that if I was going to listen to anyone on lighting it would be Sanjay. I've read many of his writings and studies he had done and I started changing my MH's out closer to every 18 months when I was running them.

[Dominican]

Is there a place online that I can access Sanjay's materials?

What's the conventional wisdom on how often actinic VHOs should be changed?

I don't currently have a splash shield.. The lights sit high enough not to get splashed; however I do wipe them down periodically.

[brewercm]

I'd change out the VHO's at least annually.

Here is a link that has many links to his different articles throughout the years. Lots of reading here.
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/articles.htm