HQI bulb burnt out?
 

Hi,

How do you know if your HQI bulb burnt out?

This morning, my light didn't come on. I checked the timer, it's fine. How do I know if the bulb is burnt out or there is something wrong with the ballast? The bulb is only about 8months old (EVC Tech bulb).

Also, how long can I go without a light? If I order a bulb today, it won't be here for at least a couple days... I have mainly zoo's and other softies.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Check with me. I have a used 150W Coralife 10000K bulb you could try. I also have a brand new Coralife 10000K bulb I can sell.:mrgreen:

woops! Thanks Bob, but I forgot to mention that I have a 250W fixture.

You can go quite a while without light, imaging a multi-day storm in nature.

If you bulb is coming in a couple days dont worry about it. If you want light for your fishies to see by, that might be a good idea, use a work light or trouble light or anything else handy.

Cool, thanks, just wanting to make sure my corals don't all die on me!

Not to hijack, but while we're on the subject:

How long can a tank with SPS/Clam/Anemone/Softies go without light? What's the absolute longest amount of time in your guy's opinion?

(sorry)

Fortunately, I have never had to find out, beyone some short power outages.

And I dont' want to test. :mrgreen:

It would also depend on the original health of the animals, how max zooanthae (spelling?) they have, how well fed they are, etc.

Corals and anemones ship quite a long ways, how long is that without light?

i would imagine your fine for a few days, corals go thru at least that during shipping.

Is it common for an HQI bulb to just stop working after only 8months? Don't some people use their bulbs for well over a year? I know some people have bulbs that are still working fine but only replace them because of the loss in intensity, not because they burnt out.

Scott, I've gone four days with no problems, just bring the lighting duration back up slowly.

Jonathan, I've never run any HQI longer than eight months, so in my case I don't really know how long they last.