Actinic are they needed?

Do i HAVE to have actinic lights for my coral or are the three 250w MH enough they are 14K by the way so somewhat blue

 

I would never not use actinics I know what they do and have seen the difference of corals from under a 14 to 16 hr day of actinics and just a few hrs of M/H I run mine from 6:30 AM to 10:00 Pm and on a 90 I run 3 400 watt 20K from 12:00 PM to 6:00 Pm ,

 

No, you don't have to run actinics. I am not nearly as against using them as Tangster, but remember that the sun is only about 6500K on average and the corals in the ocean do just fine.

 

Actually Tangster said he would never NOT use them.

 

Double negative

 

I had my hands full when I was trying to post this But yes atincs are very important for the corals health and coloration . Take any so called designer fancy name coral like that superman or rainbow or sunburst montie that is in that Avatar and place that under a 65K lamp and tell me what happens to the colors ! . The actincs really make the corals color up more and are cheaper to run hr on end then M/H . But IMO actinics are as much needed as any lamps over the long haul all the Spectrum's adds to the coloration and as for the sun on a ocean reef . As the 65K sun light passes down through the water the K changes very quickly 65 k 10K 12K 14 15 20 K and one to the actinic spectrum's of 420's to 460 Nm or so until totally darkness .

Actinic lighting produces a chemical action when the rays of light are nearer to blue and violet end of the spectrum. I find the range that peaks at 420 nm and 100% blue to do the best job for health and coloration . But yest Corals need the true actinic lighting and I would recommend anyone to use them on all reef tanks