How long before you change your PL light?

[hemiolopterus]

Hi all,

As the subject has stated, just wanna know normally how many months you use the light for in a planted/reef tank.

Thanks

[David]

PL tubes are usually changed every 1 to 1.5yrs..this also depends how many PL tubes you have...what i mean is that if one has four tubes in the beginning, two alternate tubes will be changed.....given another 6 months, another 2 will be changed....depending on the type of plants you have, you may need to find a schedule suitable for your tank.

[M0rph3us]

u mean if i have 4 tubes i need to change 2 every 6 months? why cannot change all 4 in one shot? what will happen to the tank if all 4 is changed at once?

[lorba]

i think after some time, the PL will dim down, so as the cycle goes, highlight plants may not be as nice while low light plants get better. If you change all the PLs at one shot, the brightness, intensity etc will be drastically changed.

As the environment parameter changes drastically in a sudden, plants like crypts may melt down and other plants affected in their own way. Algae may also resurface, as most of the plants (depending on what you have) may not be at their best then.

Am i at least half right?

[hemiolopterus]

that's what i do to my FL. I change half of the tubes every 3 months as the usage period of the FL are only 6 months.

Maybe this is a stupid question. what does PL means? Is it the same as Power Compact? No lfs knows what power compact is... only PL. This has confuse me abit. []

[David]

gosh thats actually a good question coz i dont really know myself[] since everyone is calling it PL tube....so basically i just followed....

as for the rotation, dont need to change PL every 6 months but if that is what you want to do...its fine...basically one is trying to keep intensity in a regular pattern ....

[vinz]

Yeah, the power compacts are the same as PLs. Power compact is the term used in the US. They use the term compact fluorescent too.

[hemiolopterus]

david, I use FL for 6 months...not PL. I think u misread the F as P. . thanks for your info.

thanks vinz for the info on power compact and PL.

[DEA]

we call them PL because
that's what they print on the bulbs