actinic vs day light ?

Discussion in 'Reef Lighting' started by txny13, Feb 3, 2011.

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  1. txny13

    txny13 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    i need new bulbs ,should i go all atinic and no day light or 2 to one ,i only have a fixture that uses 3 bulbs 48",making a diy led as we speak. thanks john,fish/reaf 75 gal
     
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  3. Pickupman66

    Pickupman66 Tassled File Fish

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    John,

    what do you have in there coral wize? also are you making a complete replacement out of LED or supplemental? what type of fixture? What I would do is go with a mixture of sorts. get two actinics and a white. Never go with a 50/50 bulb or one that says "daylight" in the name. too much yellow to them IMO.

    on my old vho setup, I liked to run two UVL Super actinics and two of the new 75% bulbs they had. they were a whitish blue and looked stunning on my 75.

    Dont go all actinic. you wont get the penetration into the water. your colors will be cool but you wont get any good growth.
     
  4. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Actinic is mostly for looks, not coral growth. Daylight is generally better for coral growth, but dosn't look as good. Also, I've never seen anyone be able to keep corals for an extended period of time with just actinic lighting. You may be fine with actinic once the led is done though, depending on the specs. Are these T-5s? If so and if you like blue, check out the ATI Blue plus. They have much more usable light output than actinics, but are about as blue.
     
  5. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    I would personally try to cover all your common photosynthetic wavelengths. so a mix
     
  6. missionsix

    missionsix Super Moderator Staff Member

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  7. kstafford003

    kstafford003 Feather Star

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    +1. I spent a whole day reading about lights and PAR values. It made my head hurt and to sum it up you need all wavelenths to get the best growth. Even reds.
     
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  9. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    What types of LED's are you getting. If you are keeping the T5 then the suggestion will vary depending on the LED lighting.
     
  10. txny13

    txny13 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    keeping the t5 just adding 6 or 8 3w white leds and6 or 8 blue 3w led frount and back of canapy not sure if the white up frount or blue anyone have anything?
     
  11. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    I agree, with your point, but maybe not your logic. For example, 10000K is more of a mix and covers more photosynthetic wavelengths. Actinic is very narrow band and does not cover many common wavelengths. 10000K bulbs typically have a good amount of actinic, but the actinic florescence effects from 10000K light is generally washed out by other wavelengths.

    So, adding more individual actinic lights can counter this and achieves more of a glow, but I don't see how it expands coverage of "common photosynthetic wavelengths" and therefore I question whether more is necessary. Do you think that there isn't enough actinic in a daylight bulb? Or is there another reason you think there should be actinics specifically? The only thing I can think of is uv. Actinics probably do produce more uv than daylight bulbs, but there doesn't seem to be much conclusive evidence that this is necessary for growth either.

    An ATI blue plus, or 20000K bulb, or a 15000K bulb etc... would also have a ton of actinic, but would cover more "common photosynthetic wavelengths" as well, which is why they have more par.

    I guess there is the debate about whether actinic spectrum is somehow magical and should be singled out, but I still havn't seen evidence of this. From what I understand, there may be some evidence for blue light, but not necessarily actinic specifically.


    txny13, I am not sure that led you describe would be enough for a 75 by itself. It sounds like about 42W? What optics? I would guess you will need some more par, in addition, so, I would still maintain my recommendation for fairly high par T-5 supplementation. I.e not actinic. Maybe one or so, if you like the fluorescent look, but the blue leds especially will also have a lot of actinic light.
     
  12. bvb-etf-luva

    bvb-etf-luva Banned

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    if you like the look the blue just get an actinic with a higher k rating. all actinics dont grow coral at all