Actinic and a Nano??

[Dwarfpufferfish]

I have a 10 gallon Nano Reef that has a 70 watt 10000k MH over it. Do I need an Actinic and if so would a 13watt for AH be good? I am still unclear as to the benifits of actinic lighting???

[nazzy_19]

Actinic bulbs just basically add color to your tank so that it won't be yellow. It's not that you must have actinics but IMO the tank would look better with actinic supplement.

[birdie]

If I understand it correctly the nm peek on an actinic helps activate chlorophyl A or B. I might be wrong but I think that is what they accomplish. They do also help eliminate yellow from a 10k. Good Luck

Peace
Richard

[moggyhill]

I like actinics because of the color they add. If your coral has some flourescence to it it would really look great with the actinics alone.

[koolyce]

10 000k it's not really yello, it's more with. When you go 20 000k, now you go more yellow so you really need to add actinic. Btw, with 10 000k, better to add actinic to get nicve color from your coral.

[birdie]

koolyce,
20k bulbs have a very blue output to them, 6500k and 5500k bulbs are the ones that are really yellow. I do agree with you on the fact that the actinics help bring out the color in your corals. 10k by it's self just doesn't give me enough blue.
Dwarfpufferfish,
If you would like a bluer color to your tank without supplementing with actinics you can go with a bulb that is 14k or 20k and you will get a nice blue color from your MH. Adding actinics, however, allows you to view your tank with just those on so you can really see the greens, oranges, and reds contained in your coral. Good luck

Peace
Richard

[ReefGuy07]

My 20k bulbs I was not impressed with, not enough blue in them as I was made to belive. Still need actinic to balance out the white . I heard that 250watt 20k looks better than my 400watt 20k anyone know about this.

[birdie]

Do you really have to balance it out? Well Iwas satisfied with the 90g with 2 250 14k Mh's and 3 96w actinics. You must like it bluer than I do.

Peace
Richard

[gwrulzmylife]

the reason that most 250w 20k's look better is that they are new. If you have two different watts but same k value they should look the same if the same age. But when built they might have not been built the best, kinda the reason why not all bulbs last the same amount of time.

I think in the premium aquatics forum (sponsors) they have a comparison of bulbs and watts vs k value.