New lights! Some questions though

Just added a NOVA 2 bulb (1 actinic 1 regular) to my 2 bulb t5 Glo fixture. Thing is, I just realized I can't turn each light on the NOVA fixture off separately, and so I can't keep the actinics on at night. All four bulbs are 39 watts, but my question is, can I replace my regular bulb in the NOVA fixture with another actinic, do actinics actually help the growth of corals? Or are they just accents?

Thanks

 

I want to replace the bulb in the NOVA so I can keep the actinics on at night by themselves, but don't want to lose any growing light. I can keep the actinics on at day time too.

 

By at night you just mean like at the tail end of your photoperiod right? Not all night long?

And it's weird with actinic lights. Blue light is huge in coral growth since it helps the creation and visibility of certain pigments. But the tradeoff is that too little blue light or an over saturation of it doesn't help.

True actinic bulbs are generally in the 420 nm wavelength and blue actinic bulbs are around the 450 nm wavelength. Corals have adapted to use blue light in the range of 430-490 nm because that is the light the penetrates the deepest in the ocean.

So why actinic bulbs are good for their blue spectrum, they generally have low PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation). So you want to find a balance point where you are getting the correct spectrum of light and having bulbs that can put out the most PAR you can get.

For example, an ATI Aquablue special bulb has roughly 336 PAR, their Blue+ 311, and their actinic 137. (Got these numbers from someone who did a reading and posted the results).

This is why a lot of ATI users have Blue+ as their main bulb(s). Have excellent PAR while peaking in the blue light wavelength and also hits the 420 nm wavelength. You'll notice that a lot of people don't really run more than one actinic bulb, if even one at all.

I personally don't run any actinics in my four bulb setup. Just 2 Blue+, 1 Purple+, and one Aquablue special. For your dawk/dusk effect, you can stick a blue+ and purple+ in one of the fixtures or put in a blue+ and actinic bulb.

 

Yes, definitely not the whole night!

So if I use an ATI blue light, which has higher PAR, can I use that along with an actinic in the night?

 

Haha, I figured that, just had to be sure. You can definitely use the blue+ and actinic bulbs together.

Generally the people who run purely actinic for dawn/dusk have MH lighting or larger T5 setups. With four bulbs, we don't get that much flexibility.

Edit: Here is the link to ATI's bulb descriptions. If you click the bulb, it shows what wavelengths each bulb is at

http://www.atiaquaristik.com/en/t5-leuchtstoffroehren

 

Thanks! So, if I use the aqua blue special, with the actinic as well, it should look good right? Has anyone used purple bulbs?

 

I'm not a fan of the aquablue special personally, but I have one in my setup, lol. It's supposed to be a white bulb with a blueish hint, but it's very overwhelming.

I've never used the ATI actinic bulbs, so no idea how it would look. When I was running a blue+ and AB special together it was a bit too white for me, but people have different tastes. I'm running an ATI purple+ bulb right now and I really like it. It's a full spectrum bulb like the AB special without being so "bland" IMO. Reds really pop with it. When I e-mailed ATI about the PAR of it, they said that it's not as high as their stand alone bulbs, but is about equivalent to the PAR coming from lower quality bulbs.

Here is a thread I did when I was trying out different combos. Might help you out. http://www.3reef.com/forums/t5-aquarium-lighting/pictures-2-bulb-ati-combos-126700.html

 

That was a great thread! Hmm, so I think I'm going to do the aqua blue plus and then maybe take one of the standard bulbs out out of my glo fixture and put in a purple one.

So the 4 bulbs would be: (in the Nova)
1 actinic- not exactly sure where it's from (true lumen or current?)
1 purple ATI
In the glo
1 ATI blue plus
1 regular daylight

I might switch these around depending on the color I'm getting. Would all 4 of these on be able to grow SPS in a 20" tall tank (46 bf)

 

You could grow sps.

There is a T5 thread with combinations and pics, might help you decide. For people with ATI bulbs, the go to combo seems to be 1 AB special, 2 Blue+, and 1 Purple+. But this is before their newly released bulb, Coral+. Looks promising, a few members are running them already.

What color scheme are you trying to achieve? And are you set on using an actinic bulb or do you just like the fluorescence is creates?

 

Mostly the fluorescence. Since I have 2 fixtures I figures it could be brighter during the day, then get that deep blue sea look at night