How important are actinics?

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6997432#post6997432 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace They actually do add to the very useful blue spectrum which DOES make the corals grow. The point I was making is that actinics are not worthless and do provide more than just simple flourescence. [/B]

Horace, actinics do help, and 10K w actinic is better than 10k, the thing is, 2x10K is better than 10K w actinic.

Take a 10K, chop out the non blue spikes, and you have an actinic bulb. The only advantage over a 10K, is the look that some people like.


I run all 10K, and like the crisp white look, I hate the blue-wash look.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6997565#post6997565 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DesertBandits
How do people grow the most light needy corals? Iwasaki 6500k and XM10K. Blue bulbs just look good, they don't help with growth in anyway comparable to a balanced spectrum bulb, end of story. Jiggz if you wanted more light output for extra growth, get all 10k daylights. PC 6500K only has one extra spike in red which will only help you grow more algae, for PCs 10k is what you would want. The only reason to include actinics is for a deeperwater appearance and fluorescence in certain colors. If you want to check my info just go to the store and grab some coralife PC bulbs. On the back of the box it has the spectrum charts for each bulb. The blue bulbs have only have blue but are missing all the other colors, while the daylight bulbs include the blue phosphors plus all the other colors .

BTW, who is growing SPS under PC??? Not many that I know of so lets just drop the whole PC/SPS discussion right now.


I would also wager to say that a T5 tank that has pure Blue+ lighting, especially overdriven blue+ would not lag too far behind one that is nothing but 6500k bulbs.

You really must be an expert on halide lighting eh? Im sure you know exactly what all the great SPS tanks run for lighting dont you? Well I am here to tell you my buddy (GQJeff) has one of the finest SPS tanks in the coutnry. He runs nothing but XM 20k halides (one of the lowest PAR bulbs out there) as well as T5 2 Blue+ and 2 VHO Super actinic and his tank has as good or better colors and growth than any 10k halide setup out there. Pretty much all the big names in SPS know of his tank so feel free to ask around. Its not all about super high PAR numbers. Im not going to waste my time trying to change your mind because its obvious your massive experience with growing SPS is far greater than mine....RIGHT!

Like I pointed out before, once you get below about 30ft deep (where the majority of corals come from), the light is filtered down to almost exclusivly blue spectrum anyway. So once again, actinics are far from worthless.

I will also state that most of you people out there have the false impression that Lighting is the most important thing to SPS growth/color. Infact the most important thing by far is water quality and low nutrients, proper feeding of your corals. Second is flow and third is lighting. So argue with me all you like, but simply strapping 10k halides on your SPS isnt going to cause your stuff to grow any better than somone who has the other things accounted for and have sufficient PAR output (XM 10k type PAR levels are far from a required level)

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6997734#post6997734 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Horace, actinics do help, and 10K w actinic is better than 10k, the thing is, 2x10K is better than 10K w actinic.

This is kind of a rediculous statement because no one coral gets much of both halides output because you cant fit 2 over top of one coral. Think of it this way if you put one 10k in the center of the tank, the coverage would be so horrible that it wouldnt be very good anywhere accept right under that halide. With 2 halides, of course its going to be better because the PAR will more stable throughout the tank (given its 4' tank). Also it depends on what type of actinic your using. If your using PC actinic, of course your not going to get jack for growth out of them. But if you decide to use overdriven T5 Blue+ then your talking about a whole different ball game my friend. The T5 blue+ puts out only slightly less par than even the daylight bulbs. So before you can say that actinics dont do jack, you have to be talking about a specific setup. In the case of a 10k XM bulb on magentic ballasts, with PC supplemental actinic, I would have to totally agree with you. However if you had the T5s instead, that becomes much less true, espeically if you have a higher kelvin halide.

 

[spoon25]

hey i am growing lots of sps under pc's....lol....lets see i have all actinics and my setup is blasting with color ang growth, now i am using 250 15k bulbs and also using 96 watt actinic pc's and 110w vho super actinics and my tank looks real nice when the halides come one...they have a nice hint of blue to them, but just enough white to make colors come right out, except for certain sps that i have moounted high up mor towards the vho's... anybody need some brand new pc bulbs and brand new electronicc ballast PM me plz.....but anyhows i am running all actinics and my tank seems to be doing fine...thanks

 

[ZoeReef]

Here's one of the most stunning tanks you will ever see, Only lighting is pure T5.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=700454&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7003270#post7003270 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
This is kind of a rediculous statement because no one coral gets much of both halides output because you cant fit 2 over top of one coral. Think of it this way if you put one 10k in the center of the tank, the coverage would be so horrible that it wouldnt be very good anywhere accept right under that halide. With 2 halides, of course its going to be better because the PAR will more stable throughout the tank (given its 4' tank). Also it depends on what type of actinic your using. If your using PC actinic, of course your not going to get jack for growth out of them. But if you decide to use overdriven T5 Blue+ then your talking about a whole different ball game my friend. The T5 blue+ puts out only slightly less par than even the daylight bulbs. So before you can say that actinics dont do jack, you have to be talking about a specific setup. In the case of a 10k XM bulb on magentic ballasts, with PC supplemental actinic, I would have to totally agree with you. However if you had the T5s instead, that becomes much less true, espeically if you have a higher kelvin halide.

(in responce to your hypothetical situation, the Blue+ are like 12K bulbs, not actinics, and you'd still get better growth from changing them to 10Ks)

You totally missed my point.


A 10K bulb puts out almost exactly the same amount of blue light as a 14K bulb. It just also puts out more yellow and green and red light.

SO, yes, you can grow corals with actinics, but, they will always grow better under 10Ks. By using an actinic bulb as opposed to a 10K, you are chosing on aesthetics alone, and not coral growth. So yes, Actinics are useful, but not at the expense of a 10K bulb.


When you replace a 10K with an actinic bulb, you lose red and yellow light. You dont gain any appreciable amount of blue light.

Think of it this way:

Running a 10K bulb is like using a red LED, a yellow LED, and a blue LED. Running an actinic 03 bulb is like just running the blue LED.

It looks bluer becaues the other colors are gone. Less useable light, bluer visible color.

 

[Mike.B]

I cant see a regular 10k bulb having as much blue as actinic bulb, the actinic has to have more blue light, I would say the the 10k bulb is like a yellow LED a red LED and a blue LED, but the actinic 03 would be like having 3 blue LED's.

Another thing, wouldn't the other light colors in the bulb(10k) more or less cancel out the blue light because of the other colors?

 

[NCreefwannabe]

so how about running 12k with actinics? Would that be better than running them with a 10k?

 

[rickh]

I switched from running 1:1 daylight/ blue to 1:2 daylight/blue. It's only been a few months, but the coral appear to be doing fine. I like the coral to "glow". R