are actinics necessary??

jtrzerocool

jtrzerocool

Active Member
i have a 48" Current USA 2X150w 14000k with lunar lights and i see alot of people with actinics. are they necessary or just for looks?
 
theappe3

theappe3

Member
i believe they are a little bit of both. They are necessary due to the spectrum of light that they cover and also because the actinics make all the flourecent color in the tank pop out.
 
jtrzerocool

jtrzerocool

Active Member
well is there anything that i can do to add actinics that would be cheap seeing as how i already have MH's and i dont want to buy a whole new fixture???
 
R

reefernana

Guest
Some people only take pictures of their corals with just the actinics on because they really show the colors better.
 
travis89

travis89

Active Member
Actnics are used to get the blue end of the spectrum, if you were using 10k bulbs you would most likely want actnics. 14k bulbs have the bluer end of the spectrum already. IMO, you don't need actnics with 14k bulbs.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Are actinics absolutely necessary, no. Do actinics provide usable light for corals, you bet. Corals will color up much more with the use of actinics. Actinic bulbs aren't too far off the spectrum most 20K MH bulbs provide. 20K's peak around 460 nanometers(which is the blue spectrum) while true actinics peak at 420 nanometers(violet spectrum of visable light).
Originally Posted by kidreef
so if i have 65w in actinics those are wasted watts?

No, not at all.
 
golgi aparatus

golgi aparatus

Member
Hurt said:
Are actinics absolutely necessary, no. Do actinics provide usable light for corals, you bet. Corals will color up much more with the use of actinics. Actinic bulbs aren't too far off the spectrum most 20K MH bulbs provide. 20K's peak around 460 nanometers(which is the blue spectrum) while true actinics peak at 420 nanometers(violet spectrum of visable light).
I have a question. Is it important to have "true actinics"? I ask this because I recently purchased a retro T-5 TEK kit. In my bulb selection I chose the true actinc bulb from Geisman. After setting up the lights I decided that I needed more blue in the tank. I then purchased a T-5 Actinic Blue bulb from Hagen GLO. I noticed that the color put out by the GLO and the Geisman were different. THe Geisman was much more violet verses the bluer GLO bulb.
Will the true actinic bulb from Geisman be a better bulb for me in the future? Should I replace the bluer GLO bulb with another true actinic?
Can someone help me understand this?
Click to expand...
 
golgi aparatus

golgi aparatus

Member
Originally Posted by Hurt
Are actinics absolutely necessary, no. Do actinics provide usable light for corals, you bet. Corals will color up much more with the use of actinics. Actinic bulbs aren't too far off the spectrum most 20K MH bulbs provide. 20K's peak around 460 nanometers(which is the blue spectrum) while true actinics peak at 420 nanometers(violet spectrum of visable light).
No, not at all.

I have a question. Is it important to have "true actinics"? I ask this because I recently purchased a retro T-5 TEK kit. In my bulb selection I chose the true actinc bulb from Geisman. After setting up the lights I decided that I needed more blue in the tank. I then purchased a T-5 Actinic Blue bulb from Hagen GLO. I noticed that the color put out by the GLO and the Geisman were different. THe Geisman was much more violet verses the bluer GLO bulb.
Will the true actinic bulb from Geisman be a better bulb for me in the future? Should I replace the bluer GLO bulb with another true actinic?
Can someone help me understand this?
 
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