ACtinic!? DAy!?!? Help!?!

alianated

alianated

Member
Hi all.. I have my actinic and day PC setup and have been noticing how pretty it looks and all, and then it dawned on me..
umm.. I have no clue what should or shouldnt be on and for how long??
What do the actinics do? ( I would imagine the day bulbs are simply like the sun.)
Are actinics for the night time? Or should I have them off at night??
lol
Ok.. so Im still a newbie,,
:p
 
pootietang#1

pootietang#1

New Member
If you have a reef tank, I would leave them on for ten hours a day, usually, around nine to seven. But if you have FO, I'd keep the lights on for 12 hours. The actinics cover the blue end of the spectrum of sunlight and help your corals flourish, and no, you shouldn't leave those on at night. Your signature's funy BTW.
 
dad

dad

Active Member
there has been discusion after discusion about lighting. your lighting vatys with what size your tank is,what you have in it,your water readings, etc.
i really suggest that you go back through the archived messegas and read. you may get a better feel for what you need.
actinic lights are not for night time. at nights your tank should have no lights.
look at it this way: the ocean.daylight for around 12 hours and dark 12 hours.with a few hours in the daytime that has some intense light!
get some timers and run your actinics for around 10 hours with your pc lights on for around 5 of those hours.
this will get you started.
there are no set guidlines.
hope this helps.
 
indy1

indy1

Member
I leave both of my bulbs on for 12 hours a day. I believe I read that in a book somewhere. It is supposed to mimic natural conditions..??? Works well for me....
 
deep blue

deep blue

New Member
If you have a reef tank I would leave the lights on for at least ten hours. If it is possible to only leave the actinic on I would set them up on a different timer and have them come on one hour before and after the day lights. This will give your fish time to ajust(and maybe have an romantic dinner at sun set, oolala). Corals also need more blue light so this is a win win.
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
Your lights should be left on for between 10-14 hours, a timer works best for regulating this. The actinics are used to mimic the spectrum of the light found at deeper depths, and at dawn and dusk, its actually not required for photosynthesis and is more for your eyes. Corals would do just fine under only 55k lighting, this is close to the spectrum found on shallow reefs in nature.HTH
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
Sammy, I agree a blue spectrum is important in photosynthesis, as is red, but I was under the impression that a spectrum of between 55-65k contained enough of the blue spectrum for photosynthesis to occur. I wasnt saying that blue is not important, but that an actinic bulb is not needed, it makes our corals glow and look more colorful, but not needed for growth. Not arguing with you, just clarifying myself :D
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
I'm far from even being near a lighting expert.....but here is what I use and it seems to work well.......
4 am---2x15 watt no 03
6 am---2x40 watt no 03
730 am---2x65 watt csl smartlites(combo)
8 am---2x65 watt csl britelite(10000k)
5 pm---britelites off
6 pm---smartlites off
7 pm---2x40 watt no off
8 pm---2x15 watt no off
comments ....suggestions....
tank has a assortment of mushrooms & polyps...closed brain....red/green open brain..bubble coral..candy cane coral..star polyp coral..2 different leathers..hammer coral.. 2 seperate frogspawn..
so far they are all in good condition and show no obvious sigh of problems...
 
andymi

andymi

Member
someone stated above that there should be NO lighting on at night. I sort of disagree with this. Yes, you can make it so there is no lighting on at night, but this does not mimic the natural reef. Many have even said that by using minimum reef lighting at night that mimics the moon and using a device that can mimic the lunar cycle in a reef tank your corals are more apt to spawn (not sure if that is the technical term of what corals do). This has been documented on many places on the net. Hope this helps a little as well.
--Andy
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
This isnt a argument, just a little serious reef talk!
I use to use a night light with one of those light sensors, I painted the bulb grey and it worked great, It was really cool looking, I didnt need my flashlight to check everything out, I never put it on after I upgraded tanks, I think I may though.
Sammy: Thanks for the mention, thankfully the cat lost intrest in the tank after falling in :) That was a site. But not the darn thing is trying to munch on my geckos, I ought to get a monitor or something for it to play with :) Hey why are youa titan trigger?
Ian: I hope your ready to watch your power bill jump up a little :)
[ June 30, 2001: Message edited by: ADRON420 ]
 
alianated

alianated

Member
Dont say that!!!
I live in California!! Where Rolling blackouts, $2/gallon gas, and triple hit electric bills run amuck!!!
:p
 
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