So what are you thinking Brad... every 9 months for replacement bulbs now? maybe even 6?

What is your lighting schedule like?

excellent detective work.
nice to see you got to the bottom of it, I can only imagine how much stress this episode gave you, probably more than it did your corals....

Brad and the other purchasers of the PAR meter will be keeping a close eye on our PAR levels over time to determine how quickly PAR levels drop off. It will probably vary somewhat depending on bulb and ballast combos.

Glad to hear you figured it out!


There is a big thread on RC about how quickly PAR levels drop off and with what bulbs. I think it was pretty much determined that the biggest drop was after a few months and then the next year was pretty minimal.

I would have to go back and read (too lazy) but in the first 3 months, most bulbs dropped to like 70% and then a year later were around 65%. Or somewhere around those numbers anyways. One guy tested for 1.5 years and was still at 60% of the original output and stayed there until the burned out.

I sure hope I don't need to replace those bulbs every 6 months...they cost $600 a set! Based on this past experience, I'm guessing that my current situation will result in new bulbs every 10 months. The PAR meter will help, but I'll also be a bit wiser than before about recognizing the symptoms.

My lighting cycle is such that the bulbs are running 9 hrs per day. Just this moment, I realize that I increased the lighting hours/day in the 2nd year of the tank. That might explain why my first bulbs seem to make it to 1 year without problem, while this set didn't...I ran this set 11% longer.

You may want to read some of the threads around about photoperiod too.

I am at 6 hours now and corals have never looked better. Bulbs should last much longer too. I decided to give it a shot after seeing the RC TOTM a few months back that was at 5 hours only. He explained all his experiments over the years with photoperiod and how coral can only use a certain amount of light anyways. In many cases people seem to be finding that 6-7 hours gives their tank best results for color and growth. For SPS anyways.

There is a thread right now in the SPS keepers section of RC about this. Might be worth looking. Might not be for you but many have been shortening the photoperiod and getting nicer growth. I have seen nothing but positive results and there are the added bonuses of less bulb use and less algae. I have a feeling the cyano I used to have was from a long photoperiod (used to be 10 hours). And since corals are not using the light the whole time, may as well not feed the cyano I figure :D

Just thought I would mention it.

I'll read that...and I might consider dropping to 8 hours per day.

However, growing coral isn't the only goal. Part of the goal is having a pleasant aquarium to enjoy..and it's much less interesting when it is dark! (well...sometimes it is interesting in the dark also...but you know what I mean)

Dropping to 6 hours a day though is ... well, I don't know. I've seen those suggestions before too, but to me the problem is .. I'll never see my tank during the daytime hours then, except for maybe on weekends. It's not really something that appeals to me, don't know how others feel on the subject though, maybe I'm alone on this :p

Short of throwing the daytime cycle so far off the regular daytime at least .. I guess that's an option but then the problem is sunlight from the windows will interfere with your "daytime."

Maybe just enough white lights to give aesthetic appeal but not the most intense for the actual photosynthesis.

When I lived in Florida, I knew many people who run their tanks at night because of heat in the day. They would have lights on around 5-6pm and off in the middle of the night.

For me, I have my lights on at 3pm to 9pm. There certainly is a decent amount of light from windows on the tank before 3pm and it allows me to view the fish nicely.

I work from home though, so 6 hours is more than enough time for me to view the tank. My fiance enjoys the tank too and usually gets home around 6, so she also gets a good 3 hours of lights on.

Certainly not for everyone. Just thought it was worth mentioning since bulb life is also an issue.

Just in case anyone wants to read:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1582958

And the TOTM that convinced me to try a shorter photoperiod. He talks about how too much light causes coral growth to slow and color to fade.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-01/totm/index.php

Nick moves on....
 

If you are one of those who check the video camera frequently, you've probably noticed that Nick (the Lookdown) isn't in the tank anymore.

It was time for him to move on. He had become so large that he was taking runs at the smaller fish and it was only a matter time before he inhaled one. That would have been fine with me, except that I am completely dependent on the gobies to keep the sand bed under control. I can't live without the gobies, so Nick had to go.

Since he will NOT swim under any rockwork, he was quite easy to catch. I simply spooked him in the direction of the trap and Chris dropped the trap door. Total time...maybe 3 minutes. He wasn't very happy and let us know with a few loud grunts.

JL has agreed to sell him on my behalf. I do hope he finds a good home. He deserves it. He lived in the tank for about 1 year. If you have an aggressive fish-only tank, I would highly recommend these fish.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0511.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0516.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0517.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0519.jpg