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about time to change.
change one of the tubes first and observe the difference in light output between new and old tubes.
stagger the tube change rather than changing all the tube at once.
Peace & Tranquillity
Once read that the PL lights should be changed every 6 mths.
I have been having mine for 1 year with 10 hours operating time daily. How can I judge if it is time to make a change??? Plants seems ok and changing them during this hot season may just allow algae to bloom... yes?
Pls advice and thanks.
about time to change.
change one of the tubes first and observe the difference in light output between new and old tubes.
stagger the tube change rather than changing all the tube at once.
Just curious. Is 6 month the average lifetime for PL ? How about TL ?
Thx.
the average lifespan of a pl tube is much longer than 6 months.
after about 9 to 12 mths, the light output could drop quite significantly.
the tube still works fine.
regular changes of pl tubes ensure more consistent light for a planted aquarium.
tl? are you referring to fl?
fl last about 6 to 9 mths. the light output drop is significant.
Typically, life of a flourescent lamp is about 7,000-10,000 hours. Good ones lasts longer.
Most of the dimming takes place in the first few hundreds of hours. It can dim up to about 20% durig the "burning in". After that, good quality tubes actually retains the brightness pretty well for most of their working life.
That means within 1 month a new tube will look very much like an old tube because most the the brightness loss takes place during the initial buring in and after that the brightness loss will be very gradual.
I used my tubes for 1 yr + before changing. I don't really find any problem with that and don't see the point of changing so frequently especially for good quality tubes which retain brightness quite well during most of the operating life.
BC
You can always use the tubes till its end of its life with no ill effects on the plants whatsoever unless you are running the lower side of things (1.5w/g or less.) which you might consider changing.
Regarding algae bloom with bulb changing, it is due to folks not keeping up on things (CO2 and nutrients) while there is a mark increase in light intensity from the new bulbs. Keep up with the CO2 and nutrients and algae should not do its work.
Regards
Peter Gwee
By the way, Osram Lumilux guarantees 90% of the original luminous flux even after 12,000 hours of operations (using electronic control gear/ballast).
BC
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