T5HO Reef lighting help

Bought some Seachem stuff to raise alk today, changed the lights to a 10 hour cycle ( I wanted to do the sunrise effect but don't have space for a second timer) and I would like to know about the atinic blue and just the blue bulbs. I asked the man at my LFS today and he said they were pretty much the same thing just slightly different between 420 and another number I don't remember and it wouldn't make much of a difference, is this true?

 

Not even close. Actinics have a deep purple look and regular blues a strong blue. The PAR of a blue bulb is about 2.5 times that of an actinic bulb.

 

Actinics cause fluorescent colors to really pop especially green but have low PAR. Regular blues will do the same but not as well and upto 2.5 times the PAR.

 

This is going to seem dumb, but can you define PAR? haha

 

Photosynthetically Active Radiation.

 

Well It's been three days and my coral are starting to show results. My Galaxea is actually coming out of it's "stalk", my hammer is showing its full size. My mushrooms still aren't like they were but hopefully time will tell. Kinda funny my maxi mini was never effected by the lighting change, I assumed it would have been the most sensitive.

 

+1 on the ATI !! 8)

 

What's the big deal about ATI anyway?

 

ATI bulbs have the highest or near highest PAR ratings of bulbs in the same color class. They are extremely well engineered, high quality and have the best prices for top of the line bulbs.