Lighting ??

sebae09

sebae09

Member
What is the differance between 460NM and 420NM? which one helps your coral the most? im looking for a good atlantic bulb for my 55gal reef and i allready have a 2 175W 10K bulbs.Any ideas on this?? and i was wanting to use HO over VHO because they last longer just to tell you.
thank you and have a great day.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
How much longer do HO outlast VHO's......I'd have to pull an article to get you correct information on the difference between 460NM and 420NM....It was just in Novembers issue of FAMA magazine....
 
fishgeek01

fishgeek01

Active Member
the pc bulbs that i get have both the 460 and the 420 in them, i am sure you should mix and match as well, the benefits probably outweigh the negatives, but i am not 100% sure of this
 
fishgeek01

fishgeek01

Active Member
Honestly i have not used them, but if price = quality then these are not going to be very good, the price is good (cheap), but i would wonder about the quality. I would keep asking until you find someone that is using them
 
tx reef

tx reef

Active Member
Originally Posted by sebae09
but which one is better for the corals?

It doesn't matter. Neither one is "good" for corals. It is just your personal preference. 420 nanometer is the true actinic that makes corals flouresce.
 
fanker

fanker

Active Member
they do because they have little par but u dont need them and t-5s last about 18-24 months but dont get pure actinic, very dull, get actinic+
 
tx reef

tx reef

Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
You'll get a little more than 6 months out of VHO's.....

VHOs have the best actinic by far. Worth the extra money in bulb replacements in my opinion.
PC actinics blow T5s away.
T5s are bottom of the barrel as far as actinic lighting goes.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by TX Reef
VHOs have the best actinic by far. Worth the extra money in bulb replacements in my opinion.
PC actinics blow T5s away.
T5s are bottom of the barrel as far as actinic lighting goes.

PC atinics don't even compare to T5's.......I don't know which ones you are looking at, and PC's don't even put a pimple on a nats butt as well.....Sorry to be frank, but PC are basically bottom of the barrell.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by fanker
ya but not by much
Have you measure them with a light meter when first installed and after a burn in and monitored them throughout????? I can easily stretch my URI's to 8 months......
 
tx reef

tx reef

Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51

PC atinics don't even compare to T5's.......I don't know which ones you are looking at, and PC's don't even put a pimple on a nats butt as well.....Sorry to be frank, but PC are basically bottom of the barrell.
I have to disagree with you there. My PC actinics look way better than my lfs T5 actinics on their display tank. He doesn't have the actinic+ that fanker mentioned, though.
When his actinics are on by themselves, the colors on his corals do not "pop" like mine do under the PC actinics.
T5s have weak actinics in my opinion.
I guess it all just boils down to what you like......
I really don't think anyone will disagree with me about VHOs having the best actinic, though. As I said before, they are worth the extra money in bulb replacements.
I will be getting a retrofit kit in a month or two.
Anyway, as I said before, just my opinion.
 
tx reef

tx reef

Active Member
As far as a full lighting system goes, I do agree that PCs are the bottom of the rung flourescents.
 
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