# Actinic lighting in fresh water ?



## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Hey guys I know actinic is primarly used for salt water corals and stuff.. However ive noticed a lot of LED fixtures that you buy today are mainly white leds lets just say a 36 inch LED light will have I dunno 100 leds.. And it seems like 80 of them are white and 20 are blue.. (Just using an example)

I bought one of these basic LED fixtures from fluval for my 30g tank as its duel T5NO 6700k fixture burned out.. Immediately I noticed the LED light wasn't nearly as bright... However... the colors in the entire tank... aren't washed out yellowish anymore and instead the gravel, neons, and all the other fish are glowing big time and it looks awesome..

I decided to try this with my discus tank, it has a duel 65w power compact fixture and I had a duel Pink plantgrow bulb in there, with a duel 6700/6700 bulb.. It looked ok but the pink really washed the colors out... And with just the 6700/6700 light on the tank looked yellowish.. Every tank I have has either T5's or Power compacts... and they are all 6700 or 6700/10k combo's... All tanks look "natural" but are all a tad yellow.. and no it isn't the water.

So I put a duel Actinic light in the discus tank (took out the pink bulb) and now its running a 6700/6700 and a 420/460 actinic combo (its the only actinic light I had the 420 is more of a purple bulb so ignore that but the 460 is bright blue).. And wow.... my discus tank looks awesome... my 25 Neons/cardinals are glowing blues and reds... All my discus like my blue turquoise and Leopard snakeskin, and my blue snakeskins are all poping out in colors.

Tank looks more blueish but the yellowish tint is gone and my red plants are glowing as well.

What do you guys think ? Has anyone used Actinic lights with daylight bulbs to pop your fresh water fish and plants ? To me this isn't any different then these LED lights from Fluval and other brands that use white and blue leds. Am I right ? 

Because I took that new LED light over my discus tank to see what it looked like and while not as bright as my PC light it looked the same with me using my actinic/6700


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The thing with blue, it's usually used for deeper tank, tanks that are 2 feet or taller because blue light penetrates the best through water (purple actually penetrates the farthest). Plants will utilize red light more than they will blue light but they'll still grow of course. The only thing you may notice if you don't have CO2 systems, you'll get more algae with blue lights on shorter tanks lol


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Well my tank is 2 feet tall. The 44g pentagon is 25 inches tall.. And the Fixture is on stands the light being in the fixture measuring it just now the light is 7-8 inches above the water line.. So from the bottom of the tank to the light its about 30 inches (taking the 3 inch gravel into account)..

I went to a local fish store and he said they got rid of there LED lights in there planted tanks because the blue lights that some LEDS have which his did caused major algae on the plant leaves..

I've read this before from people using blue leds or actinic.. But it just makes my tank look so good.. You know the yellow that 6700k lights put out make tanks look so tiresome after awhile.. the "natural look" gets old lol... And as I said the blue actinic really makes fish and plants pop out specially my discus/neons and red plants.

I use telenthara cardinalis because it stays red even with the ****tiest lighting and no ferts and co2. Its the only plant I know that does this. 

Should I get a 10k/actinic light though ? Because the current actinic im using just to try it is the old original light that came with this power compact fixture which is one of those 420/460, purple/blue actinic bulbs. Or should I save my $25 an stick with the light I got.. It looks perfect to me.. im just worried using a duel actinic light will deff cause excess algae vs a 10k/actinic combo


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The 10K will still give you a blue light as well since it's in the blue spectrum so if I had the choice, I'd probably just go for the 10k/actinic anyway and just watch all your levels is all. If you notice algae then depending on which kind, you can rig the lights higher so it has further to penetrate or you can remedy it with something else depending on what it is like cyanobacteria can be cured with using potassium to spot treat the areas.

I agree on the "natural" look, I have that on 2/3 main tanks and while it grows my plants just fine, my one that has a partial blue light on it really looks fantastic I have to admit lol


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Yea I have 8 fish tanks.. 3 of my smaller ones are powered with just white leds.. the 10g and 2.6g tanks.. But the rest are all using either T5's or Power compacts.. The 55/30g are using T5's.. The 55g has 4 T5's over it.. 3x6700k and one colormax (I never got around to replacing the old barely visible colormax lol its over a year old hah) And my 30g before the T5 fixture blew on me was using 6700k lights..

My 27g hex is using 1 65w power compact.. Its a 6700/10k and the discus tank is using duel 6700k lights... Plants grow well in all the tank, but as You and I said.. the Yellow color in the tanks gets old.. Even the 6700/10k PC light on my 27g still looks yellow/greenish..

The discus tank is using that 420/460 purple and blue actinic light and it looks friggin amazing.. and my 30g as I mentioned I got a fluval eco light just a regular LED 36 inch light not knowing it has 6 blue LEDS and this is where I found that actinic or blue light makes the tank look awesome. lol See I bought my 44g Pentagon (my discus tank) on CL for $100, tank stand and the guy gave me his duel 65 PC Current fixture.. It came with the 6700/10k light (the one im using on my 27g now) and the 420/460 actinic.. The 420/460 must be an old probably original light.. its very dark on the corners so it probably should be replaced. However.. im thinking since it probably is the original light because its very dark on the tubes (fixture is from 2007) That its clearly not putting as much light out as it used too , soI should just stick with it that way it wont be as intense and cause algae like a new one would.. 


Im reading up more on actinic lights.. The 420 which is the purple one for saltwater is more like UV light and makes colors "glow" Im wondering now if I do get a 10k/460 actinic if I will lose the current color im liking.. Hense why im debating on keeping the 420/460 combo or not..

And my 27g hexagon.. I have a PC light on.. I custom made this light and the ballast is a duel ballast so I have a unused plug.. Im thinking of getting a actinic for this tank too.. Im so sick of the black rocks and yellow looking tank.. But they don't sell the 10k/460 combo locally.. Im debating on getting a 420/460..

Gah I hope im not confusing you. lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol yeah it's a little confusing now. Can we just look at one tank at the moment? Too many specs are floating around my head at the moment, you pick one and we can go from there.

But from reading, all actinic lights do is make the fish's colors pop, they don't do much else so you're likely not to get an algae bloom if you go with real actinic lights like the 420 or 460 but if you get the 10K, those are the blue lights I was talking about, sorry I mixed that up previously, but those blue lights will be the ones that will give you the algae bloom. If you wanted to avoid that and keep with the 6,700K you could add the actinic 460 without trouble of algae


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Ok so should i get a 420/460 bulb then ? For my 27g hex ? Its using a 6700/10k combo currently and i can add one more 65w pc bulb.. I just dunno if i should get a 10k/460 or a 420/460.. 

Thr pentagon has a 420/460 but its really old as i said its dark you can tell that light has been running for probably years.. Should i replace it ? If so get another 420/460 or get a 10k/460 that tank has a 6700/6700 currently. 

Im not sure if the 420 purple actinic is helping with the fish /plant colors or if its just the 460 blue section.. See what im saying now ? If the purple 420 isnt helping colors then i might as well get a 10k/460 the 10k will at least benefit the plants more am i right ? But if the 420 is helping adding color then the 420/460 would be better... Because as far as lighting goes for my plants the current 6700/6700 or 670010k im running is plenty for what plants im using


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You can add an actinic light IF you keep one regular light to grow your plants. So you can do a combo then with the 10K/460 for best results but you'll just have to deal with a bit of algae if you don't keep high light plants, this will enable you to keep higher light plants though if you don't already.

If the tank will ONLY have an actinic light on it, then I'd say it's no good unless you don't grow plants then it should be fine, though I'd say it'd look a little strange haha.

For the pentagon, it really just is what you want the tank to look like, do you want the natural look with some shimmery fish from the 420/460? Or do you want a brighter tank with a blue-ish tint to it? I'd go with the 10K/460 again on this one. I don't know your plant situation so it's a little hard to comment on it since I don't know what you already know at this point.

And to answer you, yes a 10K will benefit your plants much more than the "accents" of the actinic. The actinic are more like accents so yes, both the purple and blue should both add color, I think the blue looks better in freshwater though since you'll hardly ever really see purple like that in a freshwater system. So yes, it will add color but it won't really benefit the plants.


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Plants are nothing special.. In the pentagon 8m just using water sprite. Wisteria. Telenthera cardinalis. Anubias and green.purple combamba and some stem plant thats a medium high light i keep forgetting its name.. its something like Hiipoduris or something.. get pinkish under the leaves..

The hex is using watersprite. Sword. Purple combamba and red lidwigia which i can only keep bronze with the current lighting and no co2. Which im fine with.

I cant use ferts or co2 in my discus tank.. last time i put a little of liquid fertz some of the discus immediatly acted weird.

So yes i already have plant growing bulbs as i menyioned.. So ima just get the duel actinic then.. The tanks are plenty bright enough to my eyes and the current bulbs i habe 6700.6700 and 6700.10k have been tried and true for growing my plants for quiet awhile now.

Have electric blue rams and neons and glowlight tetras in the hexagon. Im hoping itll pop there colors.

Thanks for all your help man.. Im ordering two 420-460 bulbs from current usa.. I know the 420-460 im using is probly like 7 years old now lol.. the previous owner i got the tank and fixture from was a newbie tank was filthy when i got it and the bulb is like dark grey.. you can tell its worn lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah lol, you definitely need to replace your lights every so often because they do dim down after a time. I think normal lights are replaced every 6 months? I feel like that rings a bell but I go more like....two years or three lol And yes, those lights should make the fish pop more for you ^^

Funny, everyone assumes I'm a dude, not that I mind, but it still amuses me ;-) I'm glad to be of service!


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Yea I know lights need to replaced every 6-12 months.. depends on the brand.. Like coralife or aqueon bulbs are complete crap and last like 4-6 months if that long..

Current bulbs though are pretty high quality so are those ATF or whatever they are called.. The German Bulbs.. But yea lol this fixture is from 2007 from the previous owner and I garuntee this actinic is the original lol


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