Blue vs Actinic?

hkgar

hkgar

Member
I recently purchase a Helios PC. It has two 36 watt 7100k and two 36 watt "marine blue" 12000k. Are the marine blue the same as actinic? If not, what is the difference, that is what is an actinic?
I also have two 55 watt PC's. Total wattage is 254
Oh ya, rate this lighting for my 50 gallon - 18" deep.
 
jjboods

jjboods

Member
It is all a matter of temperature. Actinics have a temp of 7100K where non actinics are other temps...6500, 10000, 12000, 20000. I believe the lower K bulbs are in the ROY part of the spectrum...Red, Orange, Yellow. The higher numbers are in the BIV section...Blue Indigo Violet.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by jjboods
It is all a matter of temperature. Actinics have a temp of 7100K
ummm.. sorry to disagree, but Actinics do not have a Kelvin color temp. They are considered infinite. There is a Blue PC bulb that is 7100K with a blue filter but it is not Actinic.
So, to answer the question a 12,000K bulb is not actinic. It may contain actinic phosphers though like a 50/50 bulb would.
Cheers,
Guy
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member

Originally posted by Bang Guy
Mostly just looks IMO. There's a slight advantage, but not much.
OMG, I get to disagree with the bang guy here. That does not happen, so I thought,. BG, I do love your advice. We all do.
anyhow, as for the it mattering(now this is JMO here, but) It depends on what you intend to keep, not just appearance. Some critters (mostly inverts and not fish) live in deep water or shallow water, their needs depend on their natural enviroment,. Which is what we try to compensate for in lighting as wella s other aspects. Deeper water has more blue and less yellows in it, thus should have bluer lighting. And the opposite is true for shallow water, The almost direct(and amplified ) light shines upon them all the time. So they need brighter, yellower or redder lighting. These creatures should have something in the 5500 or 6500 kelvin range.
 
hkgar

hkgar

Member
So whaat is an actinic anyway. Do they have a kelvin tempuratur? If so, what is it?
fshhub
I understand the different K ranges and the needs of different critter, but Bangguy said that actincs were just for affect and added no value 9to paraphrase) and that actinics had no specific k temp - they were infinite.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by fshhub
OMG, I get to disagree with the bang guy here. That does not happen, so I thought,. BG, I do love your advice. We all do.
I believe your point is 100% valid. That's why I put in the "slight" advantage disclaimer. It has been recently proven that Zooxanthellae hosting animals can adapt to any visible light spectrum relatively quickly... even deep red. This concept was a big turnaround for me because I always believed in the "photosynthetic peaks", one in the blue and one in the red. Actinic light spiking at 420nm is right at the blue photosynthetic peak. This is still a slight advantage.
So, in response to your examples, Actinic light would seem more natural to most reef critters (>25 feet) which is a slight advantage.
For the shallow water critters... keep in mind that they still receive as much blue light as the deeper water critters, they just receive all the other wavelengths in addition to it.
In summary, it would appear to me that light intensity is more important than the spectrum as far as health of the animals. As far as color of the animals it seems to have a lot to do with spectrum. My current theory is make it look good to you and the animals will adapt to the spectrum.
There's still plenty of room here for discussion and research. I think we've just scratched the surface. My statements here are mostly opinions and not proven facts.
Guy
 
fulcrum

fulcrum

Member
I have a helios PC as well, with the same bulbs. Mine is a 48" with 4 bulbs which can be run with just two, or all four. When I run the blues, I have green/brown algae growth like crazy.
Is this normal, or to be expected?
 
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