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Re: lights




> ok, folks, so if you are supposed to replace your
> light bulbs regularly
> (6 months? 8 months? 2 years?) before they burn out,
> then what do you 
> do with the used bulbs that are still good?  do you
> simply trash them?
> i'm just too much of a tree hugger to just trash
> perfectly good light bulbs...
> tsuh yang<

I run them till they die. I use a cheapy 6500K(in place of a triton) or
5000K and maybe a Triton mix. If your adding light right on the threshold of
the lighting amount(say 1-1 1/2 watts a gallon you may want to add more
lighting) or keep fresh bulbs but at 2 w/g or above it's not that big of a
deal I think. I've never seen any problems that I could say with any
certainty that was caused from "old bulbs", maybe old neurons.... but not
bulbs. I have had some crypt melt when dramatically changing the
lighting(say 80 watts to 150 watts) but not with the same bulb and a
replacement (changing one 40 watt bulb for another new one with the 2x40
watt light). That's never shown any difference I could spot.

I think they just like to sell bulbs. Light is light pretty much as long as
there's enough and it's not way out there. A good balance for our eyes and a
middle range seems best but you can do very well with just about any set up.
Plants are not that picky. Neither are algae.
 
I still haven't changed any of my PC bulbs either. I got 4 years on a pair.
I'll be damn if I change those 20-40$ ea bulbs till they die completely.
Regards, 
Tom Barr