pure actinic lamps

[green m0ray]

has anyone run their tanks off nothing but actinics? i currently have a 4' 4 lamp t5 fixture that i would like to run strictly on 4 actinic lamps. currently i'm using 2 whites and 2 blues. has anyone tried using no whites and all blues? if so did your corals thrive? any helpful feedback is appriciated.

 

[bang guy]

I had a tank like that in the 80's. It was nice because I only kept LPS and mushrooms that flouresced. They did about the same as they would have under daylight bulbs.

 

[clarkiiboi]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
I had a tank like that in the 80's. It was nice because I only kept LPS and mushrooms that flouresced. They did about the same as they would have under daylight bulbs.
I see a big difference in my shrooms/softies when whites are turned on. May depend on the shrooms/softies. I also see a big difference in my frogspawn with whites. I guess if you choose appropriate corals it could work. Curious what others have to say

 

[bang guy]

But when your whites are on you simply have a lot more light. I believe if you had the whites on first and then later turned on the blues you would notice the same thing.
(unless you have the PC blue bulbs)

 

[spmnarciso]

sorry to jump up on your post...is it ok to have just 50/50 and mostly actinics? Do you really need 10,000k or higher?

 

[bang guy]

That is currently subject to opinion.
It is my opinion that you do not need any specific Color as long as it's in the visible spectrum.

 

[spmnarciso]

I read that 10,000K are more for hard coral. True?

 

[bang guy]

It is my opinion that you do not need any specific Color as long as it's in the visible spectrum.
FYI - Most 50/50 bulbs contain Actinic phosphors and Daylight phosphors in the same bulb. There is no difference between running a pair of 50/50 bulbs and running 1 Daylight + 1 Actinic.

 

[green m0ray]

after i tried leaving just the actinics on, i could not see any difference. all my corals still came out as they usually did with the whites. so i guess bang is right, long as there is a visible spectrum everyone's ok. i left the whites on for 6 hours a day and the actinics on for 7. just as a precaution.
thanks again fellas