differentiate blue with actinic blue

bro bonjour....hey thanks so much for your insightful encounter with both coral sun and arcadia..really appreciate your reply in this area. actually Aqua star in yishun selling $40 per tube. much cheaper than C328 but still quite expensive in my opinion as my 55w PL light cost only $30.

I think since mine is only a normal 2ft tank with 1 ft height only, i shall just go along with 15w zoomed (base on your recommendation). I believe (unless we are interested in growing coralline algae) there is no need to buy actinic light at higher wattage (correct me if i am wrong) since my purpose is only to bring out the luminous in the zoanthid.

Thanks so much again bro!

whats the difference between t5 and t8?
what kind of tube are these? FL?

I think T5 Intensity is higher compared to T8 , though both should still be classified under FL . Some say T5 Heat output lower that T8 , but don know how true..

[KaLiB]

Originally Posted by chua_hs

whats the difference between t5 and t8?
what kind of tube are these? FL?

T8s are the normal FLs.
T5s are slimmer than normal FLs and can have a better output for the same length depending on whether you buy the normal output or high output.

High output has a better output as compared to a FL tube of the same length.
Wattage comparison between T8 and high output T5:
T5 for 2ft -> 24W
T8 for 2ft -> around 18W

hi bro bonjour,

i went for the zoomed-coral sun.
Some of my zoanthids glow under the actinic light.. superb colouration!

btw, i bought it at only $34.85 cents
thought its a good bargain? isnt it? hopefully there arnt anywhere else which is cheaper than this

Woa Good for you Ykeng, that is the best price I ever come across , care to pm me the place you bought it?
Glad to hear that the zoos glow

ykeng,

Actually there's nothing amazing about the 420nm wavelength cos Actinic 03 IS the colour that peaks at 420nm. Most other cheaper blue bulbs are at about 450-460nm. There's also an actinic 05 at 450 nm but this is like artificial blue.

There ARE indeed REAL actinic blue PL-Ls, but you may not be able to get them in this region. The US has them, but they're also quite pricey.

Actinics are mostly used for 2 purposes :
1) to enhance the fluorescent colours of corals and fish. An obvious effect is seen when you turn off the white lights and keep only the blues on. You can also use this method when comparing blue tubes to see how colourful corals can be under diff. blue lights.
2) To balance the colour of the water, especially if you're using full spectrum daylight tubes which are usually slightly yellowish.

The wattage can be important, if your daylights are very bright. Using insufficient actinic tubes would mean that you may not even see the effects of the actinics. This is why the actinic T5s are so useful since they're a lot brighter than regular FL actinics.

Yes, actinic tubes are not K-rated.

Originally Posted by ykeng

I went to check out the actinic blue FL tube (15W) on the brand coral sun. Wow its spectrum can reach 420nm! Am rather impress by it. however, the price is abit steep though.

Btw, i verify with the LFS owner and he told me there arnt any actinic blue PL light tube. Those so call (B/B) are only normal blue light.

Also, can i check for actinic blue light what are the things we must take note?
cos coral sun brand for my 2 ft only have 15w. Is the wattage consideration important for actinic blue light? is it neccessary to have higher watt for actinic blue light since it is only for visual pleasure? not neccessary rite?

Also i realise that for actinic blue light, there arnt any K at all (no 10,000k and stuff like tt) can i say that this K stuff is only applicable to white light?

thanks bro!

ic.

thanks bro deep for ur concise explanation!

Have a much better understanding of it now