Actinic bulbs

[DragonFish71]

A friend of ours gave me a 48' Coralife light strip that holds 4 21' CF bulbs. ( We got goooooooood friends ) Anyways, I took my 2 bulb strip off our 80 and got the new one on and working. Right now it has 2 6500k 65w CFs and 2 65w CF Actinics (at least that's what the bulbs say on them).

My question is will the actinics harm my plants?

I've researched and found that they don't provide any benefits other than making the fish stand out but I'm wanting to be sure they don't mess with the natural processes of photosynthesis for the plants. ( BTW, the dragon gobys look completely awesome with the actinics as do our mollies,the silver mollies look blue)

 

[thincat]

Actinics are designed as a deep water source light for corals. Plants (higher life forms) can not use this light. Your plants will suffer from this. It's not good as a night light as it would mess with your fishes sleep cycle. It will also cause your algae to grow alot faster. That said, if you have it on for short periods you may not notice any differences.

 

[DragonFish71]

So running the Actinics with my, for lack of a better name, plant bulbs will damage my plants?

 

[thincat]

Let's just say it won't help them any. If you have enough other lights( 5k and above) it may not seem to bother them at all.

 

[mgamer20o0]

the plants cant use it for the most part so it does no good for them in terms of growing. it does make fish look great and some times i tend to run 50/50 bulb in one of my cf to help bring out the colors of the fish.

i never noticed any algae growth using them here but often it was one 50/50 bulb in a 4 bulb fixture.

 

[thincat]

the plants cant use it for the most part so it does no good for them in terms of growing. it does make fish look great and some times i tend to run 50/50 bulb in one of my cf to help bring out the colors of the fish.

i never noticed any algae growth using them here but often it was one 50/50 bulb in a 4 bulb fixture.

You know the old saying"What ever works!"

 

[mgamer20o0]

You know the old saying"What ever works!"

lol or fake it until you make it lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have an actinic bulb on my 150g and it really brings out the colors of the fish. I have no plants (would love to... mbuna+plants= no plants), but i've never had any issues with algae either. It maybe be one of those YMMV situations? Couldn't hurt to try, right?

 

[DragonFish71]

My main point was that I don't want my plants to have any ill effects from running the actinics with my other bulbs. I have them both running together (2 6500k 55W daylights and 2 65w actinics) I do love how the colors of the fish really show up but again it falls back to if my plants will get damaged in some way.

 

[DragonFish71]

I have an actinic bulb on my 150g and it really brings out the colors of the fish. I have no plants (would love to... mbuna+plants= no plants), but i've never had any issues with algae either. It maybe be one of those YMMV situations? Couldn't hurt to try, right?

I was actually thinking about putting an actinic on the african tank. We have 2 double light strips that came with those tanks. Each tank will have 4 bulbs. Since I'm not planting it (maybe some fakes) I thought it would help show them off, especially the albino zebras

 

[JustOneMore20]

The 130w of usable light you have over the tank now is probably more than you had before, right? Actinic light won't hurt the plant growth at all, it just won't contribute to it. The plants should show no effects of having the actinic bulbs in the fixture. Having a big more light (or even as much as you had before) should be enough for the plants you have...plus you have the added benefit of seeing how cool fish look under actinic lighting.

 

[thincat]

Fish only I see no problems. As for your other planted tank just try it out and see how your plants do. Be sure to let us know what happended so others can benefit from it.

 

[DragonFish71]

The 130w of usable light you have over the tank now is probably more than you had before, right? Actinic light won't hurt the plant growth at all, it just won't contribute to it. The plants should show no effects of having the actinic bulbs in the fixture. Having a big more light (or even as much as you had before) should be enough for the plants you have...plus you have the added benefit of seeing how cool fish look under actinic lighting.

I have the same 2 6500k 55w bulbs as I originally had, only difference was the 2 actinics that came with the light strip.

The fish do look really cool, it has almost a black light effect for some things like a white shell glows blue or the silver mollies glow blueish. The dragon gobys really look like a deep violet. It's really cool

 

[DragonFish71]

Fish only I see no problems. As for your other planted tank just try it out and see how your plants do. Be sure to let us know what happended so others can benefit from it.

I'm keeping an eye on it. It's only been 24 hours so nothing other than cool looking fish. I'll keep updating for future resources.