Actinic Bulbs

[27mtaylor]

Do Actinic Bulbs help corals and anemones in a reef tank or do they just help to make their colors show up brighter? Should you include an actinic bulb in your set up or not? Thanks.

 

[thegrog]

hey mostly are for color. Photosynthetic creatures use some of the light, but they do not have nearly enough of what they need to survive.

 

[testieone]

Hmmm, then why not just use the stronger bulbs that are benificial to the harder corals and such???

 

[27mtaylor]

So when I choose a bulb, I should get the ones with a higher K rating, right?

 

[bang guy]

Actinics are just as useful as other bulbs. Chose your bulbs based on your aesthetic preference. The only bulb to avoid is the 7100K blue PC bulb.

 

[27mtaylor]

So what type of K rating do actinic bulbs have? All I ever see about them is 420nM. What exactly does that mean?

 

[bang guy]

420nm means that the light from the bulb peaks at the far blue end of the visible spectrum. That's all it means. As far as I know there is no Kelvin Color for Actinic light. I suppose it's infinite.

 

[27mtaylor]

Thanks Bang Guy! That helps out.

 

[mudplayerx]

If you use metal halide, I would recommend supplementing actinic bulbs with any kelvin rating below 10,000. I have heard it helps with coraline algae and coral growth.