Acentic lighting

[jimnjamie2703]

I have a 55 gallon saltwater tank thats been running for about a year. I have just fish and live rock, no corals or anything. I like the way acentic lighting looks on a tank, but I know most people use them for early morning and late evening to replicate dusk and dawn. The light fixture I have is just a regular one used for freshwater, nothing fancy since I dont plan on doing reef no time soon. I had a regular daylight bulb I've used for a while, but also had a acentic bulb thats been in my closet for about 6 months. I would have loved to use them together, but unfortunately it only fits one bulb. My question is, can I use the Marine-glo bulb by its self all the time? Or would I be better off to buy a coralife 50/50 to have a combo of the blue and white light? Will constant use of the acentic alone cause an algae bloom? The reason I asked that is because I used it on a freshwater tank and had a bad outbreak of algae. I'm not sure if it was from the light or something else but it was a pain to get rid of, and I dont want it to happen in my saltwater tank. The acentic light brings out so much on the fish that regular light doesnt, and thats why I want to use it, but I wanted someone elses opinion on if I should use it as the only light source or not. I'll appreciate your opinons greatly...I waste so much money buying extra things that I dont need, since I was thinking of buying the 50/50 bulb...but if I dont have to have regular light mixed with the acentic, then thats 30 bucks I can save! Thanks!!!

[Sploke]

Many people keep their actinics on all the time. Mine come one early and go off late, but they stay on while the daylight bulbs are on as well. The color they provide is nice but its not real bright, hence the combination - you get the actinics to bring out the colors, and the daylights for the bright light. If your fixture only has one bulb, a 50/50 might be the best way to go.