Question about actinics

[Murica]

I love the look of actinic, but i also worry about the coral health.

with an ati sunpower, an 8 bulb fixture has two channels, 6 and 2

if i make the 6 channel all actinic and run those from dusk to dawn, then have 2 coral plus for my 2 channel during the full power time (around six hours) does anyone see any issues with this?

mixed reef

 

[Reefer40b]

Are you talking about a true actinic bulb or the blue plus?

 

[Murica]

Are you talking about a true actinic bulb or the blue plus?

True actinic

 

[Reefer40b]

I would probably add some blue plus and not do 6 actinics and keep the 2 coral plus for the 6 hrs.

 

[nereefpat]

I would probably add some blue plus and not do 6 actinics and keep the 2 coral plus for the 6 hrs.

I don't think 6 actinics is a good idea. I think you are sacrificing too much PAR there. I would at least go with 3 Blue+ & 3 Actinic, then the Coral+ on the second channel.

 

[jda]

Output from an Actinic is the same as another type of bulb - PAR meter just cannot capture all of the spectrum. Since most of us do not reef on paper, this is of no consequence. Most actinics have a more full spectrum than a Royal Blue LED (which is much more narrow), but it depends on the bulb - they still have green, yellow and red. Which actinic bulb are you looking at?

You will get better color rendering with more daylight spectrum, but you can likely do OK with actinic and some blue plus.

 

[nereefpat]

Output from an Actinic is the same as another type of bulb - PAR meter just cannot capture all of the spectrum.

Maybe. All T5 bulbs will put out the same amount of usable radiation? Maybe a higher end PAR meter, like an Apogee would tell us.

Most actinics have a more full spectrum than a Royal Blue LED (which is much more narrow)

For sure.

but you can likely do OK with actinic and some blue plus.

But what about all actinic? It probably depends on the specific bulb.

 

[jda]

All PAR meters are about 405 to 680nm... give or take. Even then, they are soft on the edges and most under sample the violet and reds. You need something like a LiCor and then have it accept from about 350 to 850 to get the whole output. Even if you have a LiCor, it can be calibrated to match PAR output - BRS does this in some of their videos and it others they let it grab all of the usable spectrum.

PAR is a paper measurement. It is not meaningless, but also does not mean much unless you know spectrum, amounts in each spectrum, response graph and what the meter over samples or under samples. PAR is a guide, not an absolute.

 

[ScottB]

Check out the reefbuilder video interview with Jason Fox. Almost all of his growout systems run actinic and blue reefbrites.
On his 11ft show tank, he runs the same, plus a handful of metal halides.

 

[Reefer40b]

Check out the reefbuilder video interview with Jason Fox. Almost all of his growout systems run actinic and blue reefbrites.
On his 11ft show tank, he runs the same, plus a handful of metal halides.

When he says actinic its not actually actinic, he uses blue plus bulbs

 

[ScottB]

When he says actinic its not actually actinic, he uses blue plus bulbs

Perhaps that is true, but in the video he says "actinic" six times and Jake never calls him out on it. Also, that video is from 3 years ago, so he could be running all LED by now, who knows. In his reefapalooza presentation, he also says all actinic.

I remember all this simply because i found it VERY surprising. I run a lot of blue+ myself and it is visually very different from actinic.

 

[piranhaman00]

you don’t want 6 actinic bulbs, 2 max in that set up

 

[jda]

At that time Jason Fox ran a bulb with a spectrum very much like ATI Blue+ that the manufacturer calls Actinic. He has talked about this many times since he got so many questions. Not that anybody needs to be patterning a hobbyist tank off of a vendor system, but it appears that he still uses these and the MH.

This is my PSA for the day - treat ReefBuilders for what they are... shills for people who advertise with them and not really a place for knowledge or depth of information. They do sometimes have some cool photos and videos, but don't read too much into any of them. This is a good case right here...