420nm v. 460nm

So my new actinics came today to replace my burnt out ones. Unfortunately, I my 2 leftover bulbs were 460 (I think) and my new ones are 420. The combination is horrific.

I'll be honest, I know a lot of reefers love the 420s, but I absolutely hate these things. They're not powerful enough and they make everything that should look white in the tank look purple. If I wanted fake colors, I'd just whip some dye in there every now and then.

My old lights are more of a ice blue, can anyone confirm that those are, in fact, 460nm?

And can anyone give me a reason why the 420s are favored? Are these significantly better for the livestock? It would seem that the 460s are still well within the blue spectrum and would thus give you a lot of that 'actinic' benefit.

Is it just a matter of personal preference?

Surely somebody can explain the benefit of these 420s to me because I'm completely perplexed by their draw, I'd rather have no PC lighting at all and just run with the MH than have these things on. Ugh.

 

they are only supposed to be a supplemental light.

if they are washing out the colors of your tank you have too much of them.

420 gives you that nice deep violet, and gives the corals more fluorescence, i prefer it to the thin blue look of 460, much richer coloration.

if it's washing out your colors, then swap half of them for a different spectrum, maybe like a giesemann aquablue or something.

to me actinic supplementation is tricky... if you don't like the coloration, then take them out... are you running a 10k MH bulb? maybe switch to a 14k or 20k MH bulb and get rid of the actinics.... i prefer this look TBH...

 

420nm for me.

 

I like my 420/460 combo bulbs. I think all 420 would be too much but I would like to see it.

 

I use 380w of 420nm actinics to supplement 1600w of 14k MH's and the colors look great.

 

Jeezus...you have 2000watts? Are the actinics t5?

 

I've got 3 420s, 1 10k, 1 12k and a 14k all from UVL.

 

You have to rmember I have a 7' tank that is 30" deep. The actinics are T12's

 

The problem here is you never had "true" actinic bulbs. You (and others) may call 460 nm "actinic" but in reality they are "Blue" bulbs. Now, you are used to seeing the more blue look. Coral benefit and need true actinic light. Here is an informative article to help in understanding the lighting of your aquarium.
OceanReeFlections Marine and Reef School 101

 

I have 3 10K 150W metal halides, 2 34' 460nm 96 Watt 'blue' (false) actinics and now the 2 34' 420nm 96 watt actinics.

So here's my solution, I've taken the 420s and moved them to the back of the fixture and moved the 460s to the front. With the Halides on, the more brilliant blue color in the front fades into the more dull purple in the back and creates more of a depth effect.

I think the light from the 420s will still make it's way to the front 1/2 of the tank, so hopefully I won't get dead coral zones or anything up there.

Thanks for everyone's help, lemme know if you have any other ideas as I'd love to hear them.