Light Changes cont'd

[dlhirst]

I am now getting around to changing the bulbs in my tank. This is a Red Sea Max 130D, so the lighting is a proprietary set up. Two bulb sets, each with 10,000K and Actinic tubes. They say they are T5 lights with PC sockets. Two sockets, four bulbs. For what that's worth.
I assume I should probably just replace one "socket" at a time. Correct? Any thoughts on the time separation between bulb changes? Day? Week? Month?
As always, thanks for the input.

[igot2gats]

Yes, assuming you have corals in your tank - don't change all the bulbs at once. Most likely, it'll be too harsh of a change on them.

I would replace one bulb...wait a week/week 1/2, replace...wait, etc. etc.

2 pennies

[dlhirst]

Thanks for the confirmation. I gave them a month apart... both bulbs are now in the tank. This setup also includes four little ?LED? "moonlights". Do you think they are just for "show", or do they add to the spectrum, and thus need replacing? Didn't see them for sale anywhere as rreplacements, and I am not even sure how to access them... so maybe not?

[Acro76]

Thanks for the confirmation. I gave them a month apart... both bulbs are now in the tank. This setup also includes four little ?LED? "moonlights". Do you think they are just for "show", or do they add to the spectrum, and thus need replacing? Didn't see them for sale anywhere as rreplacements, and I am not even sure how to access them... so maybe not?

Don,

You can change all the bulbs, but just scale the photoperiod back to 3-5 hours a day, then every week bump it up an hour or two until you are back to your normal "day".

Many LED's are rated to last up to 10 years, so yer good there!

You have Power Compact bulbs... not t5 bulbs, its technically a different format (maybe the redsea people say the bulbs are t5 diameter?)

I'd do an pure actinic bulb and then a half actinic/half 10K for a more blue color.

Or there are many LED strips on the market now that are much more powerful than moonlights for additional accent of the coral's color. They would easily attach to your canopy hood.

[dlhirst]

Thanks, Acro. RSM is very confusing about the bulbs... likely, that is quite intentional. The box they come in, and the specs on the RSM site read "55W T5 Power Compact" which always had me guessing. I have seen other PC bulbs, and they do appear smaller diameter, so maybe the RSM is just suggesting "ours are 5/8" dia." or something.

Everything seemed to handle the change over just fine. Of course, my bulbs aren't that bright (like their owner!), and I don't have any corals that are screaming for day time sun, so the change was likely unnoticed by most.