# Actinic lighting question



## jsaunsnp (Jul 14, 2008)

Hi,

I was looking for some help. I am thinking about switching my lighting on my 6 foot 100 gallon cichlid tank. Currently I have 12 small kitumba gibberosa, 5 yellow calvus 4 multi synos and a few bristlenose. I have a single bulb 48 inch fixture and would like to switch over to actinic lighting. I am worried about making it too blue and was wondering what others opinions are on this style lighting. Or possibly 50/50 actinic lighting. Along with opinions I was hoping maybe someone would be able to direct me to some pictures or examples of this type lighting.

Thanks in advance,

John


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I use the 50/50's and a combo of 10k's and actinic's and it's a subtle blue. It's not dramatic, just enough. It's not even apparent that there's blue lighting. It just brings out the blues in the fish. Pics show up real blue, so if I posted those, it'd be misleading. Here are some samples anyway. The first one is most true to what it does. It just brings out some blue highlights. The next few look more blue in the pics than it would standing in front of the tank.





































My avatar is another good example of how it brings out a subtle blue in the xenos.


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## jsaunsnp (Jul 14, 2008)

I like that look, and your right about not being too dramatic which is what I'm concerned about.

Thanks for taking the time to post those.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

+1 to prov.

I use a combo of one 50/50 and one 8,000K bulb. I settled on it after experimenting with a few different bulb combinations. The combo I'm using now gives a nice, subtle blue that's not overbearingly blue like some reef tanks.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

I went full acitnic and it was way way to blue and that was just one 36" bulb, I switched to a dual lamp and am now using a 6500K and a 50/50 and the light/color looks fantastic.


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## Cromak (Dec 29, 2010)

For example, here is a pic of a 10k/actinic setup.. Like Prov said, the pics are misleading but you get an idea.. It's NOT this blue in person AT ALL..  It's so hard to get this color to show up properly in pictures.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

every human being sees light and interprets it differently... e.g. Cromak says the pic isn't how his tank looks to him, but it is exactly how I see 10,000K and Actinic light up a tank. 
To many folks, actinic lights "bring out the blues". For me, they paint the fish artificially with the actinic color. My advice is to find a local fish store that will show you the bulbs in action if you are going to buy premium "fish store" light bulbs. That way, you can find the right Kelvin ratings to make you happy with your tank. Don't forget to check out LED supplemental lighting! It can be a great way to add a specific color to the tank without encouraging a ton of algae growth from excessive tank lighting. :thumb:


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

We have (2) 96w actinic 10k combo on one of our malawi tanks along with (4) 96w 10k lighting compact flourescents.

If we set up the combo fixture with the actinics towards the rearward side of the fixture and the 10k towards the front of the fixture it gives a more whiter aura and just lightly brings out the blues, if set up with the actinic towards the front it is bluer. Definately the bluer colors are more noticeable with the actinic bulbs forward in the fixture. If you like that.

We have them set up with the actinics towards the rear with the 10k towards the center of the tank. Using the 10k strip alone washes out the color of the fish in our tank but lights up the tank real nicely. My preferrance with Haps and mbuna is a mix of actinic 10k combo and 10k


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

The actinic were also too much blue for me. I initially had them on a 55 and 5 seconds after putting them in there, I had reverted to my old bulbs, eventually to be replaced with 50/50s. I ran the actinic on my 110 tall for awhile, the deeper tank seemed to disperse the blues much more, but I still wanted more light and less blue. All my fish looked blue, making it really hard to see their true colors. I am now running 50/50s on my 110.

First pic is 110 with actinic (and some sunlight). Second pic is 110 with 50/50s.


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## jsaunsnp (Jul 14, 2008)

RR, 
That second shot is beautiful I like that look alot.

Well since I got differing opinions I went out and bought both styles. A marineland actinic, and a corallife 50/50. The actinic was waaaaayy too much of a dramatic change. It definetely makes stuff blue. After about an hour or two I couldn't handle it and switched to the 50/50. Much better, definetely makes the colors come out especially the blues and purples in my kitumbas.

I really appreciate all the responses and the advice.

John


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