T5 Lighting Question

[thejamesvolta]

I have decided to go with T5 lighting. My friend at work who is mentoring me with this setup showed me these T5 Fixtues (http://hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1321) .

I plan on getting two of these fixtures. My question is, what are the Actinic bulbs for and how are they used. I was going to ask my friend what they are for, but he wasn't here today and I can't wait until monday :)

[sir_dudeguy]

I would go to reefgeek.com and look at either their tek lights or the icecap lights. They're better than those coralife ones are.

reefgeek.com

Anyways, the actinics are normally used to even out the yellow light that daylights give off...makes a more white/blue tint rather than yellow. However w/my new t5's the daylight is already bluer (its 12K) than my old pc lights with daylight and actinics were (my old pc's were 10K for the daylights...higher K rating, the whiter/bluer it is)

The actinics also make corals fluoresce, or "glow in the dark" :)

[sir_dudeguy]

Oh, and they're also used to create like a morning and evening effect.. They come on like an hour before the daylights, and go off about an hour after...better than just slammin on straight up daylight in the morning ;) Seems to help my corals open up quicker.

[Big Chika]

So should they stay on all day along with the day lights?

[sir_dudeguy]

yes, when you have the daylights on, they stay on...So say you're running a 12 hour daylight schedule (which is normal, give or take), you'd be running the actinics about 14 hours...one before and one after. It doesnt have to be an hour...half hour should be good. I just do an hour since it seems to work best for me.

And the daylight could be like 10 hours if you wanted...doesnt have to be exactly 12..

[thejamesvolta]

Makes sense

[jer77]

Hellolights is a good place, but Coralife IMO is a bad investment. Anyway the fixture you are looking at are normal output T-5's. These will not be enough for a reef tank even if you get 2 of them. Plus an important part of the T-5's is getting individual reflectors with them. Without them the T-5's will be just like getting PC's which are cheaper. I would also look into www.reefgeek.com for their T-5 fixtures. I do have one of the coralife fixtures added on to my 55 along with a 260W PC fixture just to increase the total wattage. To tell you the truth two of these will not be enough for a 55 gallon tank alone. Plus also I have had many problems with the fixture shorting out and blowing fuses because its made poorly.

[Big Chika]

So what about the LED's? Only a couple hours at night???

[serum153]

I run my led's an hour before actinics come on and about 2 hours after they go off, but that is mainly for my open brain

[sir_dudeguy]

I run my LED moonlights 24/7. They last forever and dont really give off any light...they're drowned out by the daylights and actinics. The way i look at it, its one less timer :)

[Big Chika]

Sounds good. I'm setting up my timers for the actinics and day lights today