Does anyone run actinic bulbs only?

[ajones51]

I am think of running 4 110 watt vho UVL actinic bulbs in my 90 gallon. The tnak will be LPS dominated with some softies and maybe a few montis at the very top. Can an all actinic setup be ok for coral growth? I know there won't be massive PAR, but I don't think I need massive par for the LPS. Does anyone run this setup and have good results? Just curious as I htink it wuold look great, but I haven't found any examples by searching. thanks.

 

[E.intheC]

you can't have actinic only .. there's little par w/ each bulb... I really highly doubt you'd have enough to successfully keep corals. Honestly, I personally like the white look, so I think an all blue tank would look weird..

 

[redfishsc]

T5HO!


I run a nearly-actinic/blue only setup with GREAT growth, but my tank is a very shallow 10g.

My bulb combo is:

460nm Slimpaq "blue"
UVL Super Actinic 420nm
UVL Actinic White 12,000K
460nm Slimpaq "blue".


When the blue Slimpaqs get old, they will be replaced with ATI Blue Plus.

 

[rickh]

I have been running 80% actinic 20% 10K for years. I all types of coral, just keep the SPS up high as with any fluorescent.Check my gallery. R

 

[mojo~]

I run a 8 bulb t5 setup
Uvl super actinic
ATI blue +
ATI blue +
ATI aquablue special
Aquascience 22k
aquascience 15k
ATI blue +
ATI blue +

Aquatinic reflectors.. Gives it about a 14k look but the t5ho blue + bulbs give out a good amount of par compared to the super actinics.

 

[walmart]

I was always told that the a "true" actinic does not produce much usable light for corals.