ATI True Actinic thoughts?

[ReefAddict16]

After a lot of reading I noticed the true actinic bulb is the only bulb that hits 425 nm where it’s most significant according to the chart. Why don’t people use this bulb other than the PAR value? Thoughts?

 

[Bpb]

Following

 

[higorc]

I thought they all hit 425 with a few hitting the red and green spectrum. Actinic just concentrates more on the 425 range.

 

[Bpb]

They all have SOME, but the actinic has a ton of it. Photosynthetically, mixing blue+, actinic, and 6500k bulbs nails all of the important primary and secondary peaks. The 6500k has a heavy amount of the 485-500 wavelengths that the other bulbs tend to drop off at. I ran 4 blue+, 2 actinic, 2-6500k for a while. On paper it’s fantastic but visually it’s not as pretty. I recently replaced one 6500k and one actinic with purple+ bulbs and it’s a lot prettier visually though I fear spectrally it’s not as desirable

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think the lower popularity is due to a bit of the par chasing.
And judging just by eye.

A good ratio in a six tube is often reccomended to be 4 b+ 2c+ or a p+ in there. Generally each are just under 150-170 per tube at 12in. Adding an actinic drops it by close to 75 per tube.
So visually the tank is now darker, despite the increased fluorescence of some pigments in the coral and increased PUR.

A good 6 tube combo spectrally would be 2 actinic 2 c+ 2 b+. But you lose 200 ish par and visual intensity. The pop would look nice though.

A simple remedy would of course be move the light closer to find a middle ground. Or add “stunner strips” led bars of a specific NM.

Conversely , the standard 6 tube b+ c+ could be augmented well with an led bar with higher actinic numbers. The SBreeflight bar is one that does this.(tends to be described as royal blue ) Many others don’t. Some stay, Middle blue (deep blue) some tend twards green(aqua)

 

[higorc]

I wonder myself how important actinic tube is if most of the other bulbs hit 425 as well (obviously not with the same intensity). I kind of look at an actinic T5 tube as taking space for other T5s that could be providing more PAR to the tank while still giving the same benefit of actinics, especially when you add them together.

I am currently running 3 Blue+, 3 Coral+ and 2 Aquablue Special and like the color. Coral coloration is good and PAR is great. My ATI Sunpower fixture is 12" AWL and I have no problem with my clam on the sand. I think that people who run Actinics, do more so for "Eye Candy" or for the "Coral Color Pop". I run a couple of Reef Breeders LED Royal Blue strips for that reason and for Morning/Dusk.

That's just my opinion. I am curious to hear what other people think.

 

[higorc]

I think the lower popularity is due to a bit of the par chasing.
And judging just by eye.

A good ratio in a six tube is often reccomended to be 4 b+ 2c+ or a p+ in there. Generally each are just under 150-170 per tube at 12in. Adding an actinic drops it by close to 75 per tube.
So visually the tank is now darker, despite the increased fluorescence of some pigments in the coral and increased PUR.

A good 6 tube combo spectrally would be 2 actinic 2 c+ 2 b+. But you lose 200 ish par and visual intensity. The pop would look nice though.

A simple remedy would of course be move the light closer to find a middle ground. Or add “stunner strips” led bars of a specific NM.

Conversely , the standard 6 tube b+ c+ could be augmented well with an led bar with higher actinic numbers. The SBreeflight bar is one that does this.(tends to be described as royal blue ) Many others don’t. Some stay, Middle blue (deep blue) some tend twards green(aqua)

WOW, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

WOW, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Lol!!!!
Let’s get more people INTO ours!
(I’ll bring snacks).

 

[BigJohnny]

I actually prefer the Giesemann Super Actinic. It is kind of like a blend between the ATI Blue Plus and ATI True Actinic. I used to use ATI True Actinic. This is brighter but still gives you extra actinic vs standard blue bulbs like ATI blue plus or giesemann actinic blue. I have a 6 bulb and use the following combo back to front:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus
Giesemann Super Actinic
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus

You definitely don't need an actinic bulb as the others do contain sufficient amounts of actinic as others have stated, but if you have a 6+ bulb fixture you have more freedom and I believe they help with health and coloration. I tried running two initially but prefer 1.

PAR is the best measurement we have at our disposal (at a reasonable price point) but you could have a 100% red light with higher par than an actinic yet the actinic has higher PUR which is more important. I actually think I read somewhere that the actinic has comparable PAR to the other bulbs but our PAR meters can't pick up a lot of it. It certainly looks dimmer but similarly that's because our eyes don't pick it all up like the higher spectrums.

 

[ReefAddict16]

I actually prefer the Giesemann Super Actinic. It is kind of like a blend between the ATI Blue Plus and ATI True Actinic. I used to use ATI True Actinic. This is brighter but still gives you extra actinic vs standard blue bulbs like ATI blue plus or giesemann actinic blue. I have a 6 bulb and use the following combo back to front:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus
Giesemann Super Actinic
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus

You definitely don't need an actinic bulb as the others do contain sufficient amounts of actinic as others have stated, but if you have a 6+ bulb fixture you have more freedom and I believe they help with health and coloration. I tried running two initially but prefer 1.

PAR is the best measurement we have at our disposal (at a reasonable price point) but you could have a 100% red light with higher par than an actinic yet the actinic has higher PUR which is more important. I actually think I read somewhere that the actinic has comparable PAR to the other bulbs but our PAR meters can't pick up a lot of it. It certainly looks dimmer but similarly that's because our eyes don't pick it all up like the higher spectrums.

That sounds like a good combo. Do you have any tank shots?

 

[BigJohnny]

That sounds like a good combo. Do you have any tank shots?

It wouldn't even be worth trying as I have a ghetto Samsung s5 and I can't adjust white balance. It wouldn't even look close to what it does in person, just straight blue (even though it's not that blue imo) It's my favorite though and I've tried many combos over the years. I am in the market for a dslr though so if I remember I'll post one here for you when I get it.

 

[ReefAddict16]

I think the lower popularity is due to a bit of the par chasing.
And judging just by eye.

A good ratio in a six tube is often reccomended to be 4 b+ 2c+ or a p+ in there. Generally each are just under 150-170 per tube at 12in. Adding an actinic drops it by close to 75 per tube.
So visually the tank is now darker, despite the increased fluorescence of some pigments in the coral and increased PUR.

A good 6 tube combo spectrally would be 2 actinic 2 c+ 2 b+. But you lose 200 ish par and visual intensity. The pop would look nice though.

A simple remedy would of course be move the light closer to find a middle ground. Or add “stunner strips” led bars of a specific NM.

Conversely , the standard 6 tube b+ c+ could be augmented well with an led bar with higher actinic numbers. The SBreeflight bar is one that does this.(tends to be described as royal blue ) Many others don’t. Some stay, Middle blue (deep blue) some tend twards green(aqua)

I was using the 2 actinic, 2 blue and 2 coral plus combo but noticed the purple plus has almost the same spectrum (less 550-600nm) but less white look. So I replaced the coral plus with purple. Do you feel the coral plus is needed?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I was using the 2 actinic, 2 blue and 2 coral plus combo but noticed the purple plus has almost the same spectrum (less 550-600nm) but less white look. So I replaced the coral plus with purple. Do you feel the coral plus is needed?

No, it’s fine. There could be very minor changes in color to some of the coral, but not too likely.
One things many don’t consider when searching for “best”, is that a lot of the corals in the tank would like slightly different things.
Add that to giving them slightly diffent things produces slightly different things(color generally) , but yet are still perfectly healthy corals.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I actually prefer the Giesemann Super Actinic. It is kind of like a blend between the ATI Blue Plus and ATI True Actinic. I used to use ATI True Actinic. This is brighter but still gives you extra actinic vs standard blue bulbs like ATI blue plus or giesemann actinic blue. I have a 6 bulb and use the following combo back to front:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus
Giesemann Super Actinic
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus

You definitely don't need an actinic bulb as the others do contain sufficient amounts of actinic as others have stated, but if you have a 6+ bulb fixture you have more freedom and I believe they help with health and coloration. I tried running two initially but prefer 1.

PAR is the best measurement we have at our disposal (at a reasonable price point) but you could have a 100% red light with higher par than an actinic yet the actinic has higher PUR which is more important. I actually think I read somewhere that the actinic has comparable PAR to the other bulbs but our PAR meters can't pick up a lot of it. It certainly looks dimmer but similarly that's because our eyes don't pick it all up like the higher spectrums.

Take a look at the ati site , the actinic is slightly lower in par relatively, and output. It’s not due to the meter in the low end , it’s the amout of filtration applied to the glass. Like a black light.
It’s one of the reasons I highly reccomend a decent lux meter with a par meter (no seney lux is diffent and not wire accurate in a sense)

But yes, Par can be scewed by the presence of other colors. R Y O in some cases, too much (or only ) blue in others.

In tube selection , knowing what spectrum is going in the tank is how we try to get the best PUR.

 

[Bpb]

Part of the reason why any tank between 18-24” would be best served with an 8 bulb fixture. The spectral benefits of the actinic bulb can be enjoyed and using any combination of blue and full spectrum bulbs for the remaining 6-7 slots will be more than enough par if mounted 8-12 “ from the water

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Part of the reason why any tank between 18-24” would be best served with an 8 bulb fixture. The spectral benefits of the actinic bulb can be enjoyed and using any combination of blue and full spectrum bulbs for the remaining 6-7 slots will be more than enough par if mounted 8-12 “ from the water

Yup. And even if the the par is too “high” , that can be manipulated by shortening the time.

 

[BigJohnny]

Take a look at the ati site , the actinic is slightly lower in par relatively, and output. It’s not due to the meter in the low end , it’s the amout of filtration applied to the glass. Like a black light.
It’s one of the reasons I highly reccomend a decent lux meter with a par meter (no seney lux is diffent and not wire accurate in a sense)

But yes, Par can be scewed by the presence of other colors. R Y O in some cases, too much (or only ) blue in others.

In tube selection , knowing what spectrum is going in the tank is how we try to get the best PUR.

Well it's not as much less par as it looks, is what I was getting at, and that it has high PUR which obviously is important.

 

[Dan Caldarona]

This is all great info. I'm new to the hobby and am looking to add supplimental T5 to my tank. I have a cheap Orbit Marine Led and the PAR values aren't great. The color mix is fine so I was hopeful to add a single ATI actinic to give the corals a boost in growth. Which buld would you all recommend for growth?

 

[BigJohnny]

This is all great info. I'm new to the hobby and am looking to add supplimental T5 to my tank. I have a cheap Orbit Marine Led and the PAR values aren't great. The color mix is fine so I was hopeful to add a single ATI actinic to give the corals a boost in growth. Which buld would you all recommend for growth?

If only one bulb I would go blue plus.

 

[petraio]

i ha ve a ati powermodule 8 54 bulbs on my 120 gallon tank and for the first time i am using true actinic bulbs 2 of them 1 purple plus 4 blue plus since the true actinic i see better polyp extension in the past i always used 3 purple plus and 6 blur plus no white bulbs and gave the best growth and insane colors that you can't get with metal halide and no way with led
the reason why i cut down the intensity by adding 32 true actinic is because now day all the reef store keep corals under less with its of blue and putting them in a tank with t5 all you get is bleach corals including SPS