Got hooked up

Well a local guy was getting rid of his dual 150w halide setup. Well he needed some more rock so I hooked him up with bout 45 lbs and 2 corals for the lights. Im so happy, the bulbs are 20k and only about 3 months old, my question is how long do the bulbs last, are they the same as the t5's. Cant wait to get my 75g going now and hopefully have better coral growth than the t5's.

Also I want to get a retrofit kit for the actinics, should I find t5's for actinic 48inchs or just some t8's since they just for wake up and go to bed periods?

 

The bulb life depends on the quality of the bulbs. Good ones should last a year, but cheap ones will start to show some color shift at about 6 months. Just watch your tank close and you will see signs in your coral extension that they are starting to go bad.

I would go T5 for your actinics. They take up less space, take less power, put out less heat and put out a lot more light.

 

As Mike said, a MH bulb on average should last about 9 months, but some will last longer and other shorter.