Actinic benefits, if any?

[fish_4_all]

Well I have seen so many times that actinics don't add to the w/g for lighting calculation. I have also seen that actinics do actually provide a spectrum that is beneficial to plants and are good for your tank.

The question is this, if you have a 55 gallon tank and want 3 w/g you would need 165watts of lighting. Would it be better for plant growth to get 330 watts with half of it being actinic? Or would it be a waste with no actual benfits to the plants?

 

[Purrbox]

Some people have reported bushier growth from plants when using actinics. I'm not sure that's enough to justify the extra expense unless you want to leave your self the option of upping the lighting at a later date with the change of a bulb.

 

[7Enigma]

For the plants, I wouldn't do it, for the fish (if they are colorful) I might....

 

[JRagg]

I personally like the look of my plants under actinic as well. The color is a whiter light than the typical daylight bulb.

I had algae issues when i was running mine, but I'm about 99.9% sure that was due to other things.