Replacement bulb HELP....

schnell76

New member
I've had my 12 gal/dx nano now for about a year and its probably time to replace the bulbs. Need some advice though. I really don't want to do any upgrades so just looking for replacement bulbs.

My stock includes mostly Rics and schrooms. There is also some zoas scattered about and a single head of pink tipped frogspawn.

1. I am looking for (2) 50/50 24w bulbs like I have, but whats the difference between the jbj oem replacements and the nanocustoms (other than price)?

2. Whats the difference between a true actinic blue & 10k daylight bulb and a 7100k blue & 10k daylight bulb?

(Right now I am assuming my stock bulbs are 7100k blue)

3. Also is nanocustoms the best place to buy the bulbs from or anywhere else? I have ordered a couple times from them before and have been happy, but just curious as to others experience with any other retailers?

Thanks a bunch for any help!
 
2. Whats the difference between a true actinic blue & 10k daylight bulb and a 7100k blue & 10k daylight bulb?

10K is the white daylight. On 50/50 bulbs, it is the white part (but that can also sometimes be 65K but thats more yellow than white).

03 actinic is the blue part (but its more of a purplish blue) that makes corals fluoresce.

7100 K (AKA 460nm) is just another blue. Its not TRUE actinic tho. Supposedly it does not make the corals fluoresce as much, but the color is a LOT better and brighter than the 03 actinics. 71K does not get washed out as easily by the white daylights.

However when i added a 71K bulb to my 40, i immediately noticed a huge difference. It was a lot bluer, and all the corals fluoresced way more. So i dont believe that 03's make them fluoresce more. Maybe they do but since they're not as bright you dont notice it?
 
What's the visual difference from 7100 blue to true actinic blue and is one better than the other for corals?
 
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