Actinic or blue 20k bulb?

[EQCM2B]

I plan on putting in a 250 watt MH in my 44 gallon corner tank. My question is do I still need actinic lighting if a get a bulb that has more blue than white in it or would it be better to get a whiter bulb and still use actinic?

 

[RandyP]

That is a personal choice if you want to run say a 10K bulb and use actinic lighting to supplement it or just run a bluer MH bulb...
I run a 14K MH bulb over my tank with out any actnic supplement and it works fine

 

[GMGQ]

Well if you get a bulb that's more blue, then you're missing out on the white. (White encourages growth).

I'm running 250W 10Ks, and I'm waiting to get some Actinic+ T5s to supplement (they're more blue). I'm currently using regular Actinics, and they're not blue enough.

Like RandyP said, it's personal preference. You have to decide whether you're doing it mostly for "looks" or for faster "growth" of your corals too.

 

[Entropy]

I would probably go with a 14k or 20k bulb in your case since you don't have a lot of room for actinic supplements. It takes a lot of actinic to balance a 10k halide and make it look blue. I think you will have plenty of par with a 250w bulb, and it will be more than enough for your 45g.

 

[Ti]

never hurts to have the actinic