I believe you meant actinic. Actinic lights are blue and i dont believe they are NEEDED but they take away the white/yellow color of the other lights. They also make certain colors glow very brightly, like my green mushrooms.
There is some beneficial spectrum of actinic lighting. It is generally present in other lighting spectrums (bulbs and types), but often time people prefer a 14-20k bulb and chose not to run them or they chose a lower K rating and deal with the washout of many colors due to the yellow peaks. Personally I like them and I like using them to complete a sunrise to sunset situation.
Wattage does not equate better light for more light demanding coral so dont rely on the old watts per gallon theory. The type of light is more important i.e. MH vs. PC.
Wether its actinic or daylight, it should still be the same wattage. You may just not get the same PAR with actinics. As hop said, having to much daylight/white light can wash out your corals color. But in retrospect, your corals may grow quicker with the daylight bulbs. I personally like the look of a mixture of actinic and daylight bulbs...
well man this lighting thing is a pain I try getting better bulbs for the tank and well to me it does not mater if 6,700K light or a 18,000K light but the corals do but I want to keep an anemone but I thaught that I could get a higher K light and it would be good for anemones and corals but I'm now getting told that it's the wattage of the light. will someone enplane things out for me.
the wattage is important but it will be the same no matter what kelvin you are using
wattage refers to the amount of electricity your using
kelvin refers to the type or spectrum the bulb is putting out
what kind of fixture do you have and what are you trying to keep?
sorry i forgot to ask what size your tank is?
is it a t5 HO?
but i think in general most corals and anemones will need more light than a 2 bulb t5HO if i was you and i was going to try it i would probably run a 10000k and a 6700k ...but it will look kind of yellow
thats just my opinion hopefully someone will jump in and correct me if im wrong
I would agree that a 2 bulb setup is going to be too little light for a nem in a 55. I think a 4 bulb setup w/ a good parabolic reflector would be probably be sufficient for a nem, not great but sufficient. A 6 bulb would be better if it would fit over a 55.
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Jeremy http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f7...ef-119089.html
Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky went hunting? Well anyway, Brasky decides he's gonna hunt down all four members of the Banana Splits. He stalks and kills every one of them with a machete. They all beg for their lives, except Fleagul.
ya I have a 55g show tank so it wont hold 3 T5 HO lights well I have a 18,000K 54W and a 6,700K 54W lights but I'm running a 18,000K 54W and an antic 24W on it now.
