Heyya folks. That 96 watt quad light I bought (Coral Life) was only going to get me store credit, so I kept it. That's fine. It's only 20" long so I'll prop in up on some wood or something and put aluminum on the side so the whole tank gets the benefit. Anyways, all 4 bulbs are 50/50. I believe that it's two seperate bulbs, as I've never seen a 4 bulb set (though my eyes are virgin to the marine world), so if I can find an actinic I'll get it. My question is, are they necessary? And if so, can I use the current bulb for 9 months until it's no longer pushing the energy my mushrooms need? Thanks alot folks. If the AC picnic happens, I'll bring chips for everyone!
Need for Actinics
- Thread starter VoodooChild
- Start date
Hopefully Corax will reply to this post since he as recently put 2 of these over his tank. From what I've seen, the quad 96 watt bulb's are 1 bulb with 4 sections. Two of which are 10000k and two actinic. I don't think there are any other options for this bulb currenly available, but why would you want it to be all actinic anyway?
IMHO I would build a hood to mount the fixture. I think you'll see that this bulb will produce much more heat than a NO bulb and it would be safer for you and your fish to have the bulb mounted to a hood to avoid any mishaps.
Brian
IMHO I would build a hood to mount the fixture. I think you'll see that this bulb will produce much more heat than a NO bulb and it would be safer for you and your fish to have the bulb mounted to a hood to avoid any mishaps.
Brian
Thanks. Yeah I figured out that 50/50 also meant 50% actinic when I looked at the box (duh Mike). So that answers that question. I'm not much of a builder, especially with all of the school time I have, so I was planning to put it up on thin blocks of wood and then put aluminum out the side for reflecting. Perhaps in the summer my dad and I can build a hood. Get some bonding time. Oh, I've been keeping an eye on the heat. I currently have the tank set to 82 degrees and after a few hours I didn't notice a difference, but I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days. Thanks for the heads up though. Thanks for the reply too.
I also have the Coralife 20" 96 watt compact flourescent and haven't noticed any change in temperature. There are 2 fans in the fixture, but Coralife also sells the legs to elevate the fixture over your tank. At my LFS they are about $6