Life of a Coralife Actinic 03 bulb?

[SouthBayPhoto]

Hey all,

I noticed last night that my Coralife True Actinic 03 bulb was blinking on and off. It's just the standard (NO) 36" 30 watt bulb.

I then took a look at it and was wondering if it was my starter that was causing it to blink or what not. The one end looks pretty dark inside. So, I switched it over to the daylight bulb side, just to see and it still blinks.

Now today it looks almost dead. Barely on, if on at all.

What is the normal lifespan of these bulbs if you run them 12 hours a day? I only have one daylight and one actinic over my 46g and both are NO bulbs. I run the daylight 10 hrs a day and the actinic for 12.

I think I bought this bulb in like December. MAYBE November, but I think it was December sometime. That's only like 4 months. Is that normal? Kinda tickin' me off because I don't have the $25.00 to shell out to get another one at the moment.

Will this adversely effect my tank if I can't replace it for 2 weeks or so? I have no corals, only one percula clown, two Javanese damsels, one black brittle star, one blue-legged hermit and 5 Astraea snails.

The only thing that will be on now is the daylight (10k, I do believe) for 10 hours a day.

[Poseidon]

They should last much longer Mat. I would say the bulb should still be "on" but dimmer at the 12 month mark. As for affecting your tank, nope, it won't hurt it to be without it for a whie.

Where did you buy it? Can you get a pro-rated return?

[SouthBayPhoto]

I bought it at the LFS.

However, I can probably come up with a purchase date, but not an actual receipt for the bulb. Best I can do is look up my credit card and "estimate" that it was on there. I know I bought other stuff that same trip.

So, basically it looks like I'm screwed. About the only thing I could try is contacting Coralife about it and see what they say. But I'll bet they'll ask for a receipt and I just don't have one.

Ohhhh wait...I just remembered something. When I bought the 90 he gave me a 4' light setup, but it has 36" bulbs in it (don't ask me why...it just does and it was made that way). I think one was an actinic. That could work until I get a new one...I forgot about that.

I'll have to go check that out. But it still stinks I have to buy a new one after approximately 5 months. At the extreme earliest it would have been November, but I know I had the 46 runnin' for a while before I got on here and realized I really should have at least one actinic out of my 2 NO bulbs. So, I think I registered here in Dec.

Anyway...I appreciate the info. Looks like I'm out $25.

[SouthBayPhoto]

Not that this is any new news or anything...butttt...I might be an idiot.

I think when I got the other lighting system with my 90g, I took the Coralife Actinic bulb out of that and put it into my current hood over my 46g to "use it up" since I just bought the new Actinic 03 bulb.

I just pulled the Actinic 03 bulb out of the 90g hood and it looks brand new. Plus, the dead bulb I pulled out just said Coralife Actinic and the new bulb says Coralife Actinic 03. I specifically remember the bulb having Actinic 03 on the carton.

Soooo, I think what happened is the used bulb I received with the 90g tank just went dead and I just put in the new Actinic 03 bulb that I bought originally.

DUHHHH!!!!

I need a few of those for myself. LOL