Actinic

[fishcrazee]

After reading some posts it seems the 96watt 50/50 doesn't have enough actinic. I know actinic makes some corals more colorful but do they do anything else like help a coral's life, grow faster, etc. I think I may go for more actinic if it has more benefits. So does anyone have any info on more actinic or less actinic? Thx

 

[dragon79]

well I do know is that you need a good balance. If you have too much daylights....you'll have that desert look....yuck! As far as benefit of more actinic besides "looks" and "balance" I am not entirely sure, but if you come across some articles or websites, be sure post up. If I find something I'll be sure to add it to this thread.... peace

 

[djconn]

Well, by definition 50/50 should be 50% daylight or 10,000K and 50% actinic blue or O3. This balance, most people would agree, is the most visually appealing if that is what you are asking. I run my power compacts in that ratio as do most other reefers I've met. At some point though, lighting really does depend on personal taste. I personally prefer more blue (or actinic) in my tanks but that is solely my opinion.

The actinic lights stimulate coralline growth in your tank and also reaches a further depth. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[incysor]

Well, by definition 50/50 should be 50% daylight or 10,000K and 50% actinic blue or O3. This balance, most people would agree, is the most visually appealing if that is what you are asking. I run my power compacts in that ratio as do most other reefers I've met. At some point though, lighting really does depend on personal taste. I personally prefer more blue (or actinic) in my tanks but that is solely my opinion.

The actinic lights stimulate coralline growth in your tank and also reaches a further depth. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Most of what I've read hasn't mentioned actinic being helpful or hurtful either way...6700 MH or PC bulbs seem to actually work the best for coral growth, but they're very yellow to our eyes, and make the corals less appealing, even though they're healthier and showing faster rates of growth. 10k's with actinic supplementation seems to be what most people find most appealing color wise. For most of the PC based tanks I've had I like the 50/50 bulbs with is 10k, and actinic. I haven't heard of anyone using suppliment bulbs to get the 6700 bulbs to look less yellow.

I do think that actinics stimulate coraline, and other kinds of algae growth. My boss was fighting a minor algae growth in his predator tank, and couldn't seem to quite get it eradicated. He had a minor lighting emergency that forced him to get rid of his actinic bulbs and replace them with 10ks, and the algae bloom went away over the course of the next week without him doing anything else to the tank at all.

B

 

[cich1]

i was running 2x13w 6,700k bulbs with 2x13w 03 actinic on my 5.5g AGA tank and while the 6,700ks are pretty yellow looking the actincs kinda helped mellow out the color, right now i'm running 2x50/50 bulbs and 2xactinics on it i think the colors look better. next time i order bulbs i think i'm going to try 2x10,000 with the actincs and see how that looks

 

[YMCA]

I am running 150w metal halide with 6500k bulb (that is wat the pendant came with and it was more money than i had to get different bulb) and once my eyes got use to the yellow it dosnt look that bad[/quote]

 

[mikeguerrero]

I've read some literature that Actnics penetrate the water better than daylight. So if you have them, they can reach and target bottom sand bed type of corals.

Natural sunlight is composed of several spectrums of light, ROYGBIV, Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

If you spread it across the ocean water many of the first band of spectrums are obsorbed, as you go deeper into the water other spectrums are lost.

The blue spectrum travels farther down, thus giving us that blue appearance when we scuba dive. So in the reefing home, it's a good balance to have in your tank for the bottom dwellers.

Mike

 

[reefman23]

I know that this is an old post, but I think I found a good answer for this problem at peteducation.com, a site ran by vets. Take is for what it is worth.


"To provide zooxanthellae with the proper wavelengths of light for photosynthesis, different bulbs have been developed to mimic sunlight filtered through different depths of water. As light penetrates water, different wavelengths with different "energies" will penetrate to varying depths. Red light (630-780 nm) penetrates to about 15 m, while blue light (420-490 nm) goes as deep as 250 m. So, it is not surprising that most zooxanthellae have evolved to absorb light best at 420 nm in the blue range. This has led to development of fluorescent bulbs that emit light primarily at this peak: Actinic 03-type bulbs. While you could use all actinic lighting on a reef, you may find the result disappointing. (Our eyes do not perceive blue light as very bright, and find yellow light more aesthetically pleasing.) Also recommended are "full spectrum" bulbs, "tuned" to produce light across the full spectrum, mimicking natural sunlight. These tubes show the true colors of corals and fish, and are pleasing to our eyes. Most reefs work best with a 1:1 ratio of actinic to full spectrum bulbs. Also available to hobbyists, are combination bulbs often called 50/50 or actinic white; these emit light across the full spectrum, with extra "actinic" phosphors for additional light at 420 nm. Most metal halides have adequate spectrums for reefs, though most hobbyists supplement with actinic 03-type bulbs to bring out corals' red and green fluorescence."

 

[Dickie52]

I agree with all the above posts......seems today the standard is 10k and atinic at a 50 50 mix.

that is what I run,