ATI true actinic or blue plus?

[ReefTankHunter]

Sorry guys, Rt Party got this one.

 

[xmas_one]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/313663-lighting-spectra-photosynthesis-and-you-new-plots/

I would think both bulbs together would be your best bet.

 

[ReefTankHunter]

These are totaly two different bulbs.They each have a ppurpose. I'M surprised know one mentioned about the ton of PUR that the actinic puts out.

 

[ReefCowboy]

The actinic bulbs seem to be dim to our eyes and one with those bulbs by themselves will feel the tank needs more light. The blue +'s are a great bulb since they give that extra brightness to the tank we sometimes look for. I however am very excited to see what actinic bulbs are doing to my sps and I have noticed those in combination with LEDs have been working very well in my reef. I replaced all blue+'s by actinics and colors dramatically improved so I think there are advantages of actinic bulbs over the blue+'s.

Let's face it we all read over and over studies from light pros in regards to spectrum, and nm peak ranges on the two bulbs, but IMO the actinic bulbs hold a lot of the secrets to the colors we are after

 

[ReefTankHunter]

I agree totally.

 

[edog45]

I run 3 Blue+ and 3 coral+ in my 6 bulb fixture and like the bright blue look to my tank.

 

[gus6464]

Don't understand where everyone gets the ATI Actinic being super inferior in terms of PAR. An Apogee meter cannot measure the PAR of spectrum below 430nm correctly. A LiCor is the closest thing that can measure violet spectrum PAR closest to actual value and even then it's not 100% accurate.

Depending on which nm an Apogee can be off as much as 5x on the actual value. Add to that the PUR factor on actinic being almost 100% it is not an inferior bulb compared to B+.

 

[Tweaked]

These bulbs are not even on the same class. True actinic bulbs are so amazing and really add the pop to your corals.

 

[SneekaPeek]

in my observation, actinic 420nm puts off a crisp color that is violet, while blue+ 460nm is blue with a bit of white/green hazy. Using both provides both crispness and sky blue effect. only problem is you can only fit a certain amount of tubes above a tank and they do not blend perfectly together such that the tubes in the rear of a fixture do not blend well with the bulbs in the front of the fixture because they are so far away from each other. IME, 2 actinic to 1 blue+ is the perfect ratio, however that's 3 bulbs used to get the blue/ actinic spectrum correct. Then any other bulbs throw off the color. Just gotta find the right balance for your personal taste. any combo of actinic, blue, and white will do the job. its tough if you only had a 4 bulb fixture,6 bulb and so on. if you catch my drift. Goodluck and keep on reefin on.

 

[Salt Creeper]

I'm thinking of rebulbing my t5x10 fixture for my SPS focused tank. Right now I have Red Sea bulbs which I really don't trust to be high quality. I'm thinking to go with this configuration.. Suggestions? I don't care at all about appearance I am only trying to achieve maximum coral health and growth.

6x ati blue+
2x ati coral+
2x ati true actinic

Imo I think the actinic is good for growth.

 

[Crush Coral]

I love this conversation. I have 3 Blue+ and one Purple+ in my 4 bulb Powermodule. I am going to replace one of the Blue+ with and actinic and watch the corals for a few months and see what happens.
I battle HA and can anyone give me input as to would replacing a Blue+ with an actenic cut down on the light that HA uses?

 

[maynardjames]

I think a lot depends on how many bulbs you have. If you have 4 and use 2 actinic tank will not have brightness most people prefer in reef tank. To our eyes anyway.

 

[Crush Coral]

Anyone with thoughts of true actinic bulbs not "feeding HA" as much as Blue+?

 

[Reefvet]

Anyone with thoughts of true actinic bulbs not "feeding HA" as much as Blue+?

The Blue+ is ATI's number one selling T5 bulb. The Blue Plus Special which has an even higher balance of red due to it's full spectrum is their second most popular bulb.

No bulb 'feeds' HA. An unbalanced system with high nutrients and poor husbandry will suffer from HA from any light source.

 

[Crush Coral]

I was wondering if the actinic would provide less usable light to the HA the the blue+ bulbs?

 

[Meldium]

Has anyone tried 2 ati actinics, 1 blue plus and 1 purple plus?
Front
Actinic
Purple plus
Blue plus
Actinic
Back
May I ask what would be the benefit of this combo and would corals grow good with it?