50/50 lighting harmful to freshwater?

[1tankneverenuff]

I was told by a technical advisor from www.bigalsonline.com that 50/50 lighting can be harmful to freshwater aquariums? Is this true? I find it hard to believe...

For those who don't know, 50/50 lighting consists of 1/2 daylight (white) bulb and 1/2 actinic (blue/purplish) bulb.

 

[oldshell4481]

does that mean the blue light goes on for night time, if so thatd be awesome

 

[SGNL_5]

from what i've heard you will just grow more algee and that besides that it is not harmful to the fish. but then i could also be completely wrong but i'm sure someone here has a solid answer.

 

[PatM]

I disagree. I use one daylight and one 50/50 daylight/actinic in my cichlid tank and it really brings out their colors. I've been doing this for over a year and saw no algae problems whatsoever. I don't see how this could be harmful, though I don't use the actinic at night, just during regular daylight hours. If you leave the actinic on overnight it probably would grow excess algae. If you want a nice blue glow at night try moonlights. There cheap and an easy install, I have em' on all my tanks for late night viewing.

 

[thanew]

hrm... i use 50/50 in my cichlid tank too, as does my LFS. it really does bring out their colors and I have yet to have any algae problems in it...

 

[docrak]

I think you'll only have problems in a planted tank. Plants don't use actinic light.

 

[PatM]

I have an onion plant in my cichlid tank with actinic lighting and I would not say that it is a problem at all. It is thriving and happy. I am pruning it regularly, and it looks beautiful.

 

[Mazdaman]

also don't those hagen light-glo hoods come with 50?50 lighting and u can use those for fw.

 

[docrak]

I have an onion plant in my cichlid tank with actinic lighting and I would not say that it is a problem at all. It is thriving and happy. I am pruning it regularly, and it looks beautiful.

The onion plant is considered a medium-low light plant. It’s probably getting enough light from the daylight bulb. How big is your tank and how many watts are your bulbs?

 

[slowboattochina]

I have a daylight bulb and an actinic bulb in my FW tank. The actinic actually takes out the yellowness of the daylight bulb. Then at night I leave just the actonic bulb on for about an hour, then i get to see my pleco and corey's come out.

 

[thanew]

hrm... I haven't had any problems with my plants at all... i have about 2.5WPG with the 50/50, my plants are nice and green (anubias, swords, hairgrass, etc)

 

[SGNL_5]

i've got a 50/50 for my 10 gal, i have almost all low light plants, im not sure what they all are but a bunch. they seem to do just fine, but maybe a little more algee then my other tank w/out a 50/50 bulb, then again it is completely different fish so im sure that has something to do with it.
but yeah like everyone else said it does bring out the colors alot more then regular bulbs

 

[1tankneverenuff]

I knew that technical advisor was a jackass...thanks for all the help fellas!