Metal halide bulb life?

[briangg57]

I might get a metal halide light. How often do you change your bulbs and which 250 watt bulbs are the best buy?

[twistoflex]

I'm a newbie, but I've been reading about 8 mo. on MH bulbs. I Just replaced my MH bulb after 10 mo., but at the 8 mo. mark there was a distinctly more yellow color, and my clam wasn't as happy. My bulb is only 175W, I replaced a CoralVue 10K 175W with an XM 15K 175W, what a difference!! It's beautiful.

[HaroldT]

I would recommend to change it about every 9 months or so. The rated life will be longer but usually there will be a shift in spectrum at that point.