Which has more PAR, ATI True Atinic, or ATI Blue+?

[Wiskey]

I've been using Coral+ and ATI True Atinic bulbs for a while, but I'm curious about trying out a bluer look to the tank, and I know the Blue+ will provide that with a brighter Blue look over the more Purple Atinic.

I was curious, will I gain or lose PAR in the switch?

Thank you,
Whiskey

 

[Crabs McJones]

I believe BRS did par testing and stated the blue+ put out the most par

 

[Retro Reefer]

The blue+ will produce higher par vs true actinic, I have heard as much as 30-50% but have never checked par levels of each bulb myself however I’m running both and the true actinic does look visibly dimmer.

 

[CNDReef]

I’ve read that the true actinics par is reduced because the par meter doesn’t read that low of spectrum. If true it might actually put out higher par than blue+

 

[jda]

If you have a larger meter that will get below 400nm, they will be about the same. The B+ only registers more PAR because that is all that a PAR meter can read from 400 to about 680nm. A wider range spectrometer will capture the full output from the Actinic, but these are really expensive.

In some ways, the Actinic might have more power since the lower wavelengths have more energy for a coral to use.

I would just use whatever your eyes like the look of.

 

[that Reef Guy]

True Actinic was tested at 127 Par

Blue Plus was around 330 to 350 Par

Aquablue Special was slightly higher than Blue Plus if I remember Correctly by about 20 Par

 

[Wiskey]

Thank you for the help all! I'll swap to the Blue Plus and see if I like the B+ and C+ look.

Whiskey