125gallon lights

[tankedchemist]

I have this fixture in the 72" version: Metal Halide Lighting: Marineland Marine Series Pro Lighting at Foster & Smith Aquatics

the bulbs appear to be going out already. They've only been running since December. 4 of the 8 t5 bulbs are doing that weird wavy thing that fluorescents do when they're starting to die, and 2 of the 8 are totally out already.

I want to replace the 3x105w HQI with radium 20k bulbs. I want the corals to really pop but I don't want the tank to be overwhelmingly blue. SO, I'd like some help figuring out what to replace the t5 actinics with. These ones say "marineland f39t5 ho" on them and measure about 34" long each. What would be a quality bulb I can replace these with without making the whole take ultra-super-blue?

thanks in advance.

 

[Brian_G]

there was a website that they gave to me and a guy to call, let me see if i can find it. But they said he its THE MAN when it comes to t5 lighting...

 

[reeffreak]

Why 20k for the MH?Why not 14k for the MH and then mix ATI blue plus,UV super actinic and KZ fiji purple for the t5's.

I would email or call Reef Geek.

 

[yote]

I dont think they make HQIs in 20K radiums do they?
Reefs right though.Look at the 14 or 15K HQIs.I'm extremely happy with my 14K phoenix bulbs.Matter of fact,I dont even burn my actinics any more.

 

[tankedchemist]

how many watts are your phoenix bulbs yote?

 

[fastrd400]

+1 Yote

I love my 14K Phoenix bulbs. And I still run 4 T5HO with them.

 

[yote]

how many watts are your phoenix bulbs yote?

Mine are 250s.

 

[tankedchemist]

Wade, what kind of t5s do you use? I'm off to the lfs to see what they've got.

 

[dcantucson]

I have yote's set-up with 250 watt Phoenix bulbs 14000
Sometimes I wish they were more blue so corals would pop just a little bit more, but I did have 10000 and things were a lot more white.

 

[tankedchemist]

OK, so I was able to get 2x 150W phoenix 14k, and 4x 39W giesemann powerchrome actinic+, and 4x 39w giesemann aquablue, which are a little more white than plain actinics are.

Right now it looks like 4 of my t5s are utterly dead, 1 other is doing the wavy-line going to die soon thing, and 3 look fine. How should I go about replacing bulbs so my corals don't get shocked?

 

[motorcyclereefer]

One bulb at a time. Just gradually replace them like you gradually raise the hours of light the tank receives.

 

[tankedchemist]

how long in between bulb changes, do ya suppose?

 

[reeffreak]

A week apart.

With 8 bulbs that could take awhile.I replace all of mine at one time and use eggcrate for a couple of weeks.Replacing say two bulbs weekly would take 8 weeks for me to replace all the bulbs,not doable for me.Then again Amanda,I replace my bulbs yearly even if they still look good to my eyes so the change really isn't a shock.

 

[tankedchemist]

I don't have that much egg crate. I wonder if I could get by replacing 2 bulbs per week, if I alternate which end of the tank I put the new bulbs in.... as in, I just replaced 1 on the right side of the tank, so if I replace one on the left side of the tank in 3-4 days... so on and so forth.

I've only had these bulbs on since December, so that's 7 months of use, and they're literally dying. I'm disappointed that for such an expensive light fixture, they don't use a higher quality bulb. :(

 

[reeffreak]

Usually fixtures that come with bulbs are pretty lackluster.Two a week will work okay too.Another option is to replace just the T5 and two weeks later replace the MH.Lower the corals as to not shock them and move them back up over several weeks.I heard of people using window tint during the transistion to new bulbs too.

 

[tankedchemist]

I can't move all my corals, many of them grow on base rocks.

I think I'll replace 1 t5 every 3-4 days, alternating sides as I do so. That means I'll have replaced all 8 bulbs by 8/4 or so. Then I'll wait a couple weeks until I move, and replace all the MH at one time.... and hang the lights higher than they are now in the new place, and turn the lights on for short periods of time at first, and gradually increase over time.

thanks for all the help guys!

 

[yote]

What I usually do when I replace my bulbs,is go ahead and replace them all at the same time.But I'll cut the time they burn down to 8 hours and then work em back up by adding 30 minutes a day to the photoperiod.

 

[tankedchemist]

replace all, including the t5's and hqi, at once? my photoperiod now is 10 hr for the t5, and 8 for the hqi. dunno if I should cut it back more, or go with the previous plan?

 

[dcantucson]

Amanda I couldn't move my corals either. I don't think most of us could. I think your idea would work with replacing one bulb every 3-4 days. Good idea. I think I'll do that also when the time comes for me to replace mine.

 

[yote]

replace all, including the t5's and hqi, at once? my photoperiod now is 10 hr for the t5, and 8 for the hqi. dunno if I should cut it back more, or go with the previous plan?

It wont hurt anything to cut the time your lights back by a couple of hours.Your corals probably wont even know the difference.