10k and 3 actinics?

Ok so I have a 4 bulb t5 and eventually my fixture will have 2 uvl 454s, 1 uvl 12k, and 1 uvl actinic. Currently I have 2 wavepoint 10k bulbs, 1 uvl 454, and 1 wavepoint actinic. Its time to replace one of the stock wavepoint bulbs with the new uvl actinic, I was wondering if I could replace one of the 10k bulbs with the uvl actinic and still be ok until I can replace the other bulbs. I'm curious to see how blue the end result will be and I think replacing one of the whites with an actinic will give me a better idea, just want to make sure it'll be enough light though. Thanks

 

I've done that on a couple tanks. But they were all lightly stocked and nothing that required large amounts of light. It'll also depend on your gallon size/depth and watts of the lights

 

What corals do you have in your tank? And are you happy with their size, or are you hoping for growth?

 

Well eventually ill have 2 454s form uvl which will give me enough PAR for growth, basically ill just be running 2 actinics a 454 and a 10k for about a week.

 

Well I put the uvl super actinic in, the bulb isn't as blue as I thought. Think I might have gotten a bad bulb. Its next to a wavepoint actinic bulb and its not any where near as blue...

 

hey man im just gonna say, make sure you dont get it too blue..i am now going away from all the blue cuz nothing would grow...just make sure you get a good balance...

and you shouldnt have a problem putting in the new bulb, i didnt read the whole post just giving you the heads up on the blueness..

 

That will be no problem.

 

The super actinic it is almost pure actinic so it will be purple. It does have a lot of PAR for an actinic though.

 

Well it just seems kinda dim next to the wavepoint actinic, does have a purpleish (?) shade though...

 

Our eyes aren't very sensitive to blue. So, if the light has more blue and less green/yellow, it will look dimmer. Is the wavepoint the the 420 actinic, or the 460 actinic? It would make sense that the uvl would seem dim compared to the wavepoint 460 because the 460 has a fair amount of blue-green and green and the uvl has essentially no blue-green or green, it's just blue and violet. If the wavepoint is the 420, then I agree something seems wrong.

Appearing dim though has virtually nothing to do with actual light output. For our purposes, this is typically measured with par, however, actinic alone will not necessarily grow all corals, regardless of the par reading. You need some green/yellow light mixed in to grow many corals. Maybe other spectrums too.

Dingo has made some really great points regarding spectrum vs PAR and I think this should be considered more, especially in cases like this. You can have all the par in the world, but if you have a coral that needs yellow light, it won't grow with blue...