Actinic Lighting

[GAM GAM]

Does actinic lighting benifit acropora in any way. Is the ultraviolet light they produce something that the coral really uses, or is it just used to bring out Certian colors.

How does their light compare to high par lighting.
Would it be worth removing high par bulbs for actinic bulbs.
Does a pure actinic bulb provide something that a "blue" bulb does not.

Thanks

 

[Ron Reefman]

All good questions. And I wish I had all the answers... but I don't.

I've heard several very different opinions about UV light and it's affect on corals. Froe they burn the coral so the corals make more pigment to keep from burning, all the way to they have little affect and just make them glow more under blue lights, and on to they make corals turn brown. So if anybody has a good answer (one with some science to back it up) I'd like to hear it too.

I'm not sure what you mean by "high PAR lighting". Corals, more properly, their zoanthealia do use light that starts at the UV or actinic range of the spectrum. Have you seen the graph of the PAR spectrum?

https://www.google.com/search?q=PAR...%3A%2F%2Fwww.seneye.com%2Flight%2Fpar;590;298

Or the graph of spectrums that corals use?

https://www.google.com/search?q=cor...lights.com%2Fled-my-tank-for-geeks%2F;648;486

Again, what do you mean by "high PAR bulbs"?

UV to violet to blue. It depends on which actinic bulb you get. It could be more one spectrum than all 3 or it could be all 3 and not that different than a purely blue bulb. It's a continuum and saying 'actinic' isn't as accurate as asking about a given spectrum in nm. Like 390nm to 410nm is UV.

Sanjay Joshi is one of the marine aquarium trades best sources on lighting. Maybe reading some of his writing can help explain. Here is a link to one. BTW, I was just talking to him on Friday as he was speaking at our local club's Reef Conference on Saturday. But we were talking about raising clown fish rather than lighting.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sbj4/aquarium/articles/Photosynthesis.htm

 

[spieszak]

Another link for your consideration
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/10/aafeature

 

[GAM GAM]

Thanks for writing back. By high par bulbs I mean bulbs like geismann aquablue+ or ati blue +. T5 bulbs that produce high amounts of par(300+), compared to bulbs like geismann pure actinic which produce par levels around 100. If there's no real benifit to adding actinic lighting then removing bulbs that increase my par levels to add actinic ones makes no sense. Gonna go read ur links.

I have some geismann pure actinic bulbs that I'm trying to justify putting back in service. Very purple, just wanted some higher knowledge of what they do and how they do it

 

[xfactor1315]

Actinic adds great pop but lower par. A better choice would if you need the par would be a blue plus or purple or coral. If you have no need for the par and want the extra pop actinic is better for that situation.

 

[GAM GAM]

Ok, those two links are full of good info. What I took away from it is
1. Actinic light is not easily seen by human eyes but is extremely bright to the corals.
2. Actinic light has much lower par numbers but is used more efficiently by the corals.

Didn't really answer my questions tho.

Is it worth sacrificing par numbers to run actinic, true actinic. Half my bulbs are blue already, the other half are white. Want to switch out two white for two actinic bulbs or go to six blue and two white.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Oops...

 

[Ron Reefman]

What is it that you hope to gain by the change?

Better coral growth?
Healthier coral?
Better looking coral colors?

Do you have any idea what your current PAR values are in your tank?

 

[GAM GAM]

Continued growth rates with better color, Maby slightly more blue color overall. Honestly have no idea what the current par numbers are. I would expect decent par numbers(8x80 ati sunpower). But don't really know. I should buy a par meter and see where I am at currently and with the extra two actinic bulbs. Nutrient levels are pretty low and have very little algae in the tank (know that the nutrient levels effect color as much or more than lighting).

 

[coralreefdoc]

Long-time proponent of pure actinic lighting (T-12/T-5), as a supplement to higher PAR/PUR, full spectrum forms of lighting (MH), thus would highly recommend you to find space for at least one pure actinic tube.

Multi-beneficial

 

[frankyrivera]

Ok so not scientific but through trial and error and a lot of money spent on different bulb combos this is what I came up with. All my bulbs were ATI I had 2 blue + 2 aqua blue special and 2 coral +. That combo is very white except for when only the two blue +'s were on. I found growth was fast due to higher par yet colors were faded pastel looking due too such high par. I switched out the two coral +'s for two actinics and corals popped a lot better and overall color improved. I now run two aqua blue specials 2 actinics and 2 blue +. I am happier with combo however I may still replace one of the whiter aqua blue special bulbs for say a purple plus or a pink. This combo makes my corals look very nice

 

[GAM GAM]

I did it. Put the actinics in.
Sorry said the pics were too large.
Link to actinics

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums...362D5C-13606-000006237258629A_zps9dcc3227.jpg

Link to all

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums...E777A0-13606-0000062354D5A668_zps9b6d2444.jpg

Edit. Guess u can see more than the pics I wanted to show u. It's ok nothin to hide.

hope they work.

 

[Michigan Mike]

I think your tank looks really good, I don't care for violet actinics on SPS tanks when a blue bulb does the same with more PAR. I am using a ATI actinic bulb in the front bulb slot in my Sunpower directly over the softer/LPS corals on the sandbed. It seems to add some warmth & almost adds a slight purple bulb effect to the overall color.

BTW I like your cichlid tank.

 

[GAM GAM]

Thanks mike.
Your point on the violet bulbs being replace by more high par blue bulbs is exactly why I started this thread. I was on the fence about buying two more blue bulbs to replace a couple white ones. I had a couple actinic bulbs collecting dust in the basement and wondered if there's any REAL benefit to running them with the reduced overall par to the tank.

 

[jmlyna001]

light

light

nice use of graphs very helpful

 

[NanoJosh]

Is the coral bulb you guys are talking about the pink one by ATi cuz I have one pink that's a plant bulb ?? Not sure if this one is ok I seem to have good growth and color 2 blues and one whit and one plant/pink a over a 55 I'm not thread jacking I swear, I swear )


Sent from some device using some app

 

[ReeferBatman]

And into the deep end we jump...



First...

Actinic lighting (400-420nm peak) is NOT UV lighting (UV-A = 320-400nm AND UV-B= ~290-320nm if memory serves...)

I performed my own UV experiment here;

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2217754&highlight=uv+lighting

Second...

Largely ignore that Chlorophyll peak graph above... very few corals actually use chlorophyll (but some very beautiful ones do!) most use many different fluorescent proteins to create the colors we aqua-philes desire.

These Fluorescent proteins each have an individual 'activation' and 'emission' in nm, weighted more heavily toward the blue spectrum (due to how red decreases at depths)

In other words...

We find much variability in the photosynthetic needs between ~400-650...



Short hand - Actinic is good if you have the space... but other bulbs may supplement this part of the spectrum if used in unison (IE Blue plus DOES have some 'actinic' spectrum in it...)

ATI Actinic:

ATI Blue Plus:

If you have the room to spare in your setup, throw an Actinic on for enhancements.

If you running a more lean setup (4 t5 bulbs or so), you will have more luck with running with a Blue Plus or Coral Plus.

Good Luck!

 

[saveafish]

I do know I miss the old VHO 420nm and coral life bluemoon 420nm. Seems all the new atinics dont have the purple hue as the old bulbs did. The older reefers know what I mean.