Lighting Question... 7100k???

[yearofthenick]

I just bought the JBJ 28g NanoCube with the Quad-CF lighting. Supposedly there aren't any actinics. Here's what it says:
The revolutionary CF-QUAD boasts 105 watts of high intensity daylight light output with our 10K/7100K combo compact fluorescent (power compact) lamp. It utilizes a small compact size while delivering MEGA lumens to your corals. Our quick-disconnect harness always makes changing the lamp quick & easy.
7100k? What kind of color is that?
I've tried to find other quad CF's that have actinics in them and I can't find any. I do plan on keeping corals so what should I do? Do I have anything to worry about?
Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[scsinet]

If that's right, it would be very yellow... almost orange....
Can you call the vendor and find out if it's a misprint?
The lack of availability of replacement lamps should be of grave concern to you...

 

[yearofthenick]

check this out... it calls it 7100k actinic. What the heck is that? I always thought actinic light was measured differently... like 430nm or something like that.
Here are a few places where the owner's manual talks more about the lights... what do you think it's all about?

 

[yearofthenick]

Copied from the hellolights.com web site.
"Q. What's the difference between a "Blue 7,100K" and "Actinic 03" bulb?
A. Excellent question! OK, a little background: The original "Actinic 03" bulb was made by Philips. They were not made for aquarium use, but were adopted once news spread about the beneficial aspects of using this bulb over reef tanks. Nowadays, "Actinic 03" has become the marketing term used to identify "blue" looking bulbs. Many bulbs are passed off as "actinic", when they are just a blue bulb.
So, to answer the question, Blue 7,100K bulbs are visually brighter than HelloLights Actinic bulbs. Blue bulbs will NOT fluoresce your animals as well as our Actinic bulbs. Many others sell "actinic", but they are really selling blue bulbs. The phosphors coating the ******** of our Actinic bulbs are specially formulated to produce a narrow spike of concentrated violet/blue light. This is why they appear to be more faint than blue bulbs. If you have tons-o-corals, then we suggest going with Actinic 03. Remember, a visual measurement of a lights utility is a poor one."

 

[scsinet]

I did some backreading as well, and other sites seem to agree with what you are seeing... interesting...

 

[yearofthenick]

So which is better? Actinics or 7100k blue? I guess I'll find out when it comes in the mail on Friday. I've had actinic T5's and remember the colors looking awesome. I only hope they can stand by the photoshopped image they made of the tank on their websites. heh heh.