Lighting Question...

[PrettyFishies]

What is the purpose of Actinic bulbs?

I plan on having 10,000K and Actinics, what is the best lighting arrangement for FOwLR? I mean time wise - how should I keep the 10,000K's on and how long for the actinics...

 

[fishfreek]

Actinics provide the deep purple light. Corals have adapted to be more sensitive toward the blue side of the spectrum vs the red.

This is why suplementing the regular bulbs with actinic is important.

For a FOwLR tank the exposure rate is really what ever you want but I would shoot for 12hrs on/off

 

[PrettyFishies]

I see some talk about keeping the actinics on for 10 and the 10,000K's on for 12... Do actinic's mimic night time or something?

 

[fishfreek]

Do actinic's mimic night time or something?

Maybe under a very very bright full moon...

But I think your confused. We do not have the 10K's and the actinics on durring opposing schedules but instead they are on together.

For example

11AM Actinics ON
12PM 10K ON
10PM 10K OFF
11PM Actinics OFF

Thats an example of a photo schedule.

From 11PM till 11AM no lights are on over the tank. That gives you a 10hour daylight and 12 hour actinic exposure.