Actinics Or No Actinics?

R

Rincie

My husband and I just purchased 3 - Reeflux bulbs 250w,3 reflectors, 1 single ballast , 1 dual ballast ( m58 ) w/ the 72in 10k bulbs and antic bulbs with ballast. My canopy won't house all this and my fish guy is going to mount the 3 MH and said that we really didn't need the acintics. Is it ok just to run the 3 250w MH without having the acintics? If that's the case then what are the acintics for? I am not sure which way to go. If we put the acintics in the canopy with the MH's then I am going to have a new canopy built to accomodate all of them. If we use just the 3 MH's then no modification to the canopy. Need input.

We have a 150g Reef, softies right now but will be adding SPS and possibly LPS. 55g refugium, ASM Skimmer.

Thanks
 
With 10k bulbs you may want the atinics to bring out the colors. Atinics are more for the viewer then the corals. But I run them longer then my MH's to give my tnak an early morning and late night cool blue look
 
@psteeleb wrote:
With 10k bulbs you may want the atinics to bring out the colors. Atinics are more for the viewer then the corals. But I run them longer then my MH's to give my tnak an early morning and late night cool blue look said:
I agree and the 10K's alone may look yellow.
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I believe my 3 250w MH's are a 12k. The 72inch bulbs are 10k and then have the 2 blue antic's. So the bulbs are mainly for our eyes and not the corals? So I can get away with just running the 3 250w 12k MH's then? The corals will still grow and get the light they need?
 
@Rincie wrote:
I believe my 3 250w MH's are a 12k. The 72inch bulbs are 10k and then have the 2 blue antic's. So the bulbs are mainly for our eyes and not the corals? So I can get away with just running the 3 250w 12k MH's then? The corals will still grow and get the light they need? said:
yes
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Guys thanks for the input. After reading these and discussions with the hubby I have decided to just have a new canopy built to house all the lights that we just purchased.

Thanks again!
 
Great choice - though not necessary Actinics definitely add to the beauty of our tank and also enable us to extend viewing hours - I love to watch my tank with actinics only.
 
I didn't think I wanted/needed actinics since I'm running 250 watt 13k MH bulbs. I got a great deal on a 2 bulb T5 fixture and put 2 new actinics in it. I REALLY like the pop the actinics give. (although my mh bulbs are 13k they are Geisemans's and quite white)
 
I have no idea what you have in the tank right now and what your previous lighting was, but I will throw this in.... when you get the new lighting up and running, make sure you adjust your photo period accordingly so you don't shock the critters in the tank. 750W of MH over a 150 is quite a bit of light and if they didn't have something similar, it will be a huge stress shock on them.

Other than that, Petes and the others advice is spot on.
 
I had 3 150w 14k, 2 xm 14k with 2 actinics. tanks is 28inches deep and 18inches wide and 72inches long. The new lights now are hanging 12inches above the tank. We are going to run one MH for a little while until the corals adjust. Then we will turn everything on. How do you know if the corals start receiving too much light? I figure we will probably need to move corals down some after all the lights are on.
 
@Rincie wrote:
I had 3 150w 14k said:
They will pull in, look deflated or with no polyp extension at first, things like that. They also may mucus up or expel their zoo's. Over time they will start to fade in color or bleach out. I would start with a period of 25-40% of what you do now and then increase it over a period of 2 weeks or so, while keeping an eye on things.
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