Not having actinics

[Clyde]

My coralife aquapro actinics have not been working. I bought new ones about 7 months ago and they still do not work.No time of money to buy new lighting. I have been running the blue leds during the day and the metal halide comes on at 4pm and off at 7:30ish. All was well but recently my hammer has been closing up more and more each day. DO they NEED actinic lighting? or is the halide too much?. All was great until my actinics went out. All water perams ar spot on. Any suggestions? Thanx

[epleeds]

your light is only one for 3.5 hours a day. how big is the tank. that does not seem like enough time for the lights to be on. i run my T5 for almost 12 hours a day.

[Brian Ward]

Agreed... your photoperiod is probably too short. It was probably too short even with the actinics, but they were providing enough light to keep everything happy. I would recommend upping your MH to 8 hrs/day (go up slowly, maybe 2 hrs/wk).

[overklok]

The compact flourescents are useless for growth, they just add color.

[surf&turf]

^^^^That's not true, I have SPS under PC lights that are growing and doing great.

[zygote2k]

The compact flourescents are useless for growth, they just add color.

You should tell that to all the people that used PC's to grow SPS back in the day.

[BowieReefer84]

PC's will grow corals including SPS, just not the actinics alone. You need some "yellow" in there.

 

In regards to your question. INCREASE your light cycle, like was recommended above. You do not NEED actinic. They just make it look nice and pretty.

Edited August 30, 2010 by BowieReefer84

[Origami]

If these were true actinics (420 nm actinic 03's), then they probably weren't adding much PAR and were primarily used to highlight the fluorescent pigments in your tank. However, if they were 460 nm actinics, then they probably were adding some PAR to your tank and, with their loss, your nem may be suffering from the loss of lighting.