differentiate blue with actinic blue

Hi all light experts,

Very greenhorn in lighting aspect.

Can i ask how to differentiate between actinic blue tube with normal blue tube?

Say for eg, if i am going to buy an actinic blue PL 55w tube, how can i make sure that the LFS owner is not bluffing me or misinterprete my intention and just give me normal blue PL 55w tube?

[xiggie]

Originally Posted by ykeng

Hi all light experts,

Very greenhorn in lighting aspect.

Can i ask how to differentiate between actinic blue tube with normal blue tube?

Say for eg, if i am going to buy an actinic blue PL 55w tube, how can i make sure that the LFS owner is not bluffing me or misinterprete my intention and just give me normal blue PL 55w tube?

i dont think pl has true artinic lights ... go for t5 or normal t4 tubes ...

Originally Posted by xiggie

i dont think pl has true artinic lights ... go for t5 or normal t4 tubes ...

issit?!?! alamak......shit man...looks like i got to spend some money on T5.

hi guys,

since a blue light does not give the effect of an actinic blue light, can anyone recommend me a suitable actinic blue 2ft light set which is relatively affordable say below $100? have?

Hello Ykeng, regarding differientiating Blue vs Actinic Blue , Ido not know for PL , but for FL , when I use normal blue Tube , my luminous green mushroom will not glow , but when I use actinic Blue, it glows like lightsticks ...

Originally Posted by bonjour2

Hello Ykeng, regarding differientiating Blue vs Actinic Blue , Ido not know for PL , but for FL , when I use normal blue Tube , my luminous green mushroom will not glow , but when I use actinic Blue, it glows like lightsticks ...

bro, let me know where u bought your actinic blue and what brand, how much? if inconveient, can PM me
thanks bro.

Hi Ykeng, I thought you are using PL tube now, mine is FL tube so don think can work on yr hood unless you get another one or something... Anyway , I got a Arcadia T8 Blue Actinic Lamp at $24 at 328 ( not polyart) . Alt to this is the ZooMed Coral Sun tube Actinic Blue at $45, ZoodMed from Germany Arcadia from EC.
Anyway as promised, I have posted the outcome of basic coral growth on normal T8 Lights(01X ZooMed ReefSun , 01X Arcadia Actinic Blue), pls see my gallery and comment on the Mushroom and Bubble.,Bubble was damn small at LFS,now is currently blooming up..fed with Marine Snow, 6hrs light.2nd week in tank.

ykeng,

Other than the fluorescence of corals under true actinic 03 bulbs, just look at the colour of the light coming out from it. 03 is not really blue, but more like purple and quite dim. Blue bulbs are real blue and a lot brighter.

Originally Posted by ykeng

Hi all light experts,

Can i ask how to differentiate between actinic blue tube with normal blue tube?

thanks bro deep and bro bonjour.

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.

Can i ask if u have any idea the difference between the T8 arcadia and coral sun apart from them being manufacture at different country? Cos if both are the same, i dun see why i should pay so much more to get coral sun. I might as well get T8 arcadia at $24 which is so much cheaper.

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!

Hi Ykeng ,
I think the Arcadia Actinic Blue is the same as Coral Sun , both claim to peak at around 420nm.
Before I bought the Arcadia Actinic Blue, I also thought of the qns why the price differ so much,so I emailed to ZooMed and they replied that the Coral Sun tube will not heat the water up....(I thought T8 Light got so strong meh as to heat water up )
Aniway went down to a LFS in central , asked the guy to test both Coral Sun and Arcadia side by side 15W tube Actinic Blue . The visual result was that the Coral Sun shines brighter compared to Arcadia , and the type of blueness it emits , imo , is more pleasant looking than Arcadia(it looks more convincing like actinic) ( u hav to see yrself)
Why I chose Arcadia is because of the fact it is cheaper(coral sun $45 )and that my other tube is in fact 50/50 trichromatic ( 50% 420nm blue , 50% 6500k daylight ) ...
By the way both ZooMed and Arcadia T8 Tubes follow the standards , 15W for 1.5ft tubings. Unless you consider getting the T5 Tubes at higher wattage.
There has been a lot of discussion on Actinic Blue lightings in other forums ... some say it is for viewing pleasure , some say it is essential , some say depends on what coral is kept as some needs daylight for photosynthesis...perhaps someone out there can answer this doubt?For me I play safe, everything 50-50 ( hope my corals don grow 50-50 also)
No idea abt the Kelvin units for Actinic Blue,, bro Deep_End has an excellent article on Lighting where he took the trouble to explain intensity and Kelvin Temperature..maybe u can read up from there.
Hope it helps.