Does high K's = no Actinic?

[bigbris1]

I saw an ad for Metal Halide lighting that said since the bulb is 14,000K there is no need for actinic lighting. Is this true?

 

If so, would this be true for NO tubes, say 2-3 15W 18,000K bulbs on my 10g AGA?

 

Thanks!

[Tek]

With MH lights the higher the K the more blue is in it. Actinic lighting is mainly for looks to make the corals floures more.

[onthefly]

45W of NO fluorescent is not alot of light for a 10ga......you might be able to keep some shrooms of bland colored zoo's.

 

But yes, the higher the Kelvin rating, the "bluer" the light is.

 

Check out the bottom of this page, he has pics of the same tank under several kinds of light http://www.cnidarianreef.com/ go to the 250MH comparision on the right side of the page.

[bigbris1]

OH. See it's just that I read somewhere that actinic lighting is a reproduction of what actual reefs get, being 20-40 feet below the surface, the water filtering out the red part of the spectrum & such.

 

Didn't know it was just for looks.

[bigbris1]

I'm looking at buying lighting now, not sure what I want to keep but I'm looking at 65W 50/50 10K/03.

 

What do you think?

 

onthefly, what can I keep then?

 

Thanks

[Undertheradar]

shallower water species, like deresa clams and some light loving acros, do better under 'yellower' light from 6500-10,000K. As you get deeper, and the water filters the light more, the kelvin range goes higher, from 10,000, 13,000, 15,000...eventually to 20,000K. Many like to combine actinics with halides to bring out the bright colors while using 10,000K bulbs...however, if you intend on using a deeper water halide, the actinic is redundant. Keep in mind two things when using halides with K ratings over 10,000K. One, this will prolly limit you with regards to some shallower species not liking such a blue light...limiting their growth rate. A squamosa clam for instance, will not like a 20,000K as much as a 10,000 or 6500K. The other thing is PAR. Photosynthetic Active Radiation is a measure of the light spectrum that goes into photosynthesis...this is of course of great impact to the overall output of a halide with regards to the light dependent corals. An average, bulbs in the 20,000K range have half the PAR of the equal wattage 10,000K...simply due to the bulb having a more specific spectrum. This means that simply swapping out a halide for a higher K may not be enough if you just want more blue...you prolly will want to use a higher wattage as well. The PAR of a 150watt halide at 10,000K would prolly need to be replaced with a 250watt if you wanted to keep the overall output, but look bluer. Got it?