The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[OLS]

I am not sure there IS a cheap lamp place that I would trust to actually sell what they claim to be selling.
While it has no crushing effect on the corals per se, it will encourage algal growth which no one wants.
So Foster and Smith are telling you about the "lifetime' of the lamp, you want to stay focused on the actual
spectral-accuracy life of the lamp. Which is about half of the actual life of the lamp. If it was just for room light,
who would care? But of course it's not. And of course, you KNOW this, I am just reminding you. How was
that last algae outbreak, lol. You KNOW reef-keeping is ridiculously expensive. Pouring perfectly good salty water
down the drain, lamps, replacement corals and fish for all the ones we kill. It's hell,

Sadly it's just about time for me to have to change out lamps, too. I save them though, in case I ever need to
grow weed.

Originally Posted by OLS

I am not sure there IS a cheap lamp place that I would trust to actually sell what they claim to be selling.
While it has no crushing effect on the corals per se, it will encourage algal growth which no one wants.
So Foster and Smith are telling you about the "lifetime' of the lamp, you want to stay focused on the actual
spectral-accuracy life of the lamp. Which is about half of the actual life of the lamp. If it was just for room light,
who would care? But of course it's not. And of course, you KNOW this, I am just reminding you. How was
that last algae outbreak, lol. You KNOW reef-keeping is ridiculously expensive. Pouring perfectly good salty water
down the drain, lamps, replacement corals and fish for all the ones we kill. It's hell,

Sadly it's just about time for me to have to change out lamps, too. I save them though, in case I ever need to
grow weed.

What he said!

Time for new lamps here too. I haven't found a better place than Drs. Foster & Smith yet.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by OLS

I am not sure there IS a cheap lamp place that I would trust to actually sell what they claim to be selling.
While it has no crushing effect on the corals per se, it will encourage algal growth which no one wants.
So Foster and Smith are telling you about the "lifetime' of the lamp, you want to stay focused on the actual
spectral-accuracy life of the lamp. Which is about half of the actual life of the lamp. If it was just for room light,
who would care? But of course it's not. And of course, you KNOW this, I am just reminding you. How was
that last algae outbreak, lol. You KNOW reef-keeping is ridiculously expensive. Pouring perfectly good salty water
down the drain, lamps, replacement corals and fish for all the ones we kill. It's hell,

Sadly it's just about time for me to have to change out lamps, too. I save them though, in case I ever need to
grow weed.

"The average life of T-5 tubes is 2 years, with the blue/actinic spectrum lamps lasting up to 18 months. 12000°K." are Dr Foster and Smith's words.
Your "spectral accuracy" comment is what I was looking for, Brad.

I guess I just kind of doubt the half-life idea. I tipped back my light to find a couple lamps with crusties floating around, and one actinic dead. Others looked new. Maybe I replaced half of them?
My doubt comes from:
1.) Dr. Foster and Smith are real straight shooters. If the lights were half good in half the time, they'd say so.
2.) Reef Keepers are even more painfully anal than cigar keepers, and Lord knows we have tons of rules we follow about ten steps past reasonably necessary.
3.) My corals are doing great, and are growing out of control.
4.) The corals I bought from other folks have totally changed from listless and colorless to colorful and full in no time.

My brown hair problem is all but solved. It was my fault. I had unhooked my ro/di unit and let it sit around for a couple months. That wrecks the membrane. It's even in my literature, I just never read it.
All I needed to do is fix my water, and that fixed the problem.

If my lights are 8x54w. that's be 432 watts or 4.8 w/gal. if my lights are at half the efficacy at half the life (let's say 8 months to a year), I'd probably be looking at 2.4 watts/gal, although I'm sure they don't curve down evenly.
Heck, it'd be worth wasting the money on one of those luminometers or whatever they call light measuring devices for the tank. You'd pay for it in no time with bulbs.

Based on my poorly informed argument, and knowing you've likely read volumes of painful tests and tech specs on this stuff, and knowing you're not gonna accept any suggestion that costs lots of money without a fight, how'd you get okay with the "bulbs are shot in half the time they say so" thing, Brad?
Know that this is a big leap for me. Normally I'd not believe anyone without doing the due diligence, but I know you're just as mental as I am, so I find it hard to believe you've accepted this without a fight. I can be okay with that.