tryn2makeit Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 what exactly is actinic lighting? what are the pros and cons? i have a 150w sunpod with 6 blue and 6 white leds. ive been reading some posts on the site and noticed some posts that mention actinic lighting, but not explaining what they are. can some one answer this for me. thanks in advance. Link to comment
qwiksilver711 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 what exactly is actinic lighting? what are the pros and cons? i have a 150w sunpod with 6 blue and 6 white leds. ive been reading some posts on the site and noticed some posts that mention actinic lighting, but not explaining what they are. can some one answer this for me. thanks in advance. I'm not sure of the pros and cons to it, being as I am new to this little hobby, but actinic lighting shows the blue spectrum, which regular lights fail to emit very well. Link to comment
Rocket Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Actinic lighting helps to emit light in the 420-460nm range. The optimal range for photosynthesis to occur in corals. This light spectrum is the proper deeper water light the corals would receive if in fact you kept them at the 20-40 ft depth they are normally found at. It also helps to "pop" the colors of the coral since it is close to the UV (think black light) light spectrum. Google, yahoo, search results did not turn up much. This was the best I could find: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwa...o_lighting.html Link to comment
maverick Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 makes corals look cool. Link to comment
Biotoper Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 In my opinion, for a true actinic (only 420nm) bulb: Pros: may alter the color of the corals (physically in response to the added spectrum), makes the overall look of the tank more blue depending on the K of your MH and how many bulbs you add, will increase coral fluorescence, allows dawn/dusk lighting Cons: may alter the color of the corals (you may like how they are), makes the overall look of the tank more blue (you may like it whiter), low PAR - probably won't boost coral growth much Instead of true actinic bulbs, there are also good options like ATI Blue+ that have good PAR while also providing a good amount of 420nm light. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.