actinics WHAT??

what is the point of having actinics. i have 2 54w 460 actinics and 2 10k 54w bulbs. why not have all 10k's. and whats the diff. between the 420 and 460 actinics

 

Actinics are meant to simulate deeper water, OR dawn/dusk. Whats the difference between 420 and 460 not much to the naked eye..... Actinics do have a valuable spectrum for corals BUT many lights have a problem producing actinics with good PAR values. Most people use a actinic or equivelent as a supplemental or dawn/dusk bulb. 10,000k is TOO white/yellow for many people and on top of that you don't gradually work the tank into lights, it goes from all off to all on...Kind of shocking!! I would have some kind of blue bulb on the tank even if its only used as a dawn/dusk!!

Happy reefing!

 

420 vs. 460. One is basically a black light.... purple more than blue. It makes fluorescent corals really stand out. Dual actinics.. purple/blue gives the reef a slightly broader spectrum. Sunlight enters the water as white light... as it goes lower in the water the blue light makes it deeper than the other colors. So creatures that live lower in the water prefer a bluer spectrum. 10k daylights are for things that live closer to the surface as 20k would be for things that live deeper. There's a balancing act for placing things where they are in a light that makes them happy. For a lot of medium lighting corals may get burned directly under a 10k 400 watt metal halide. ..but may be happy under a 10k 54w bulb.

 

hey ranger (yeah me again)...

Different types of organisms (as in colors of encrusting coralline algae, corals, anemones, etc) benefit form different wavelengths of light. Natural sunlight provides a very broad spectrum of light, but our artificial bulbs tend to be very narrow. Also, various spectra of light penetrate the water to differing depths. Eg (if I have my physics right) your 420 bulbs will actually reach deeper into the water than the 460's, but the 460's may make your fish and corals look brighter.

You mentioned that the 10k's are in the back. I had mis-read the original post and assumed those were 10k MH... try splitting the bulbs up so it's 420/10k 420/10k for 50/50 lighting. I think you'll see better results with that.

 

Zooxanthellae absorbs blue end of the spectrum lighting more efficiently than any other wavelength necessary for hermatypic corals.

 

Actinics will really help your corralina grow too.

 

PAR values are usually strong in natural light in the reef which depending what you read is any where from 10,00k to 20,000k plus, I honestly can't imagine a TRUE 10,000k value in a REAL reef.
Most spectrums/colors for bulbs are really made up by the manufactor as compared to a TRUE value.. A 10,000 Coralife T5 is going to be WAY different than a UVL or Gieseman 10,000k.

PAR values are more important than color/spectrum BUT WE are the ones looking at the tank so color preference comes into play

Happy reefing!

 

i cant really get too technical b/c im not a technical person, but they make your tank "pop" even fish only tanks should have some form of actinics, the fish look better IMO.

 

you could have all 10k bulbs, from people i have talked to they will grow faster(most will anyway) but they won't be as colorful as with actinics. you probably will want to keep your actinics 10ks are really white, and just don't put out the reef tank look ive come to expect from looking at tanks.