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lighting

nomorenames

Cuttlefish
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Apr 26, 2005
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29
i have a 120 gal. tank with two strip lights 1 with two pcs 55watts each
the other has the fl. actinic bulb i leave on 24hrs and the pcs on for 10hrs should i keep the actinic light on the same schedule thanks in advance
Mike
 
By pcs do you mean power compacts?

I'm still looking into this, but I think the actinics are meant to be used at the same time as the pcs. Then you have night period, when you could use moonlights.

You don't need actinics for an octo aquarium.

Nancy
 
yeah they are power compacts i keep the actinic light on during the day with the pcs then the day lights go off and i just started to keep the actinic light for a hour and then it goes off but if i dont need it ill keep it off
 
You would probably keep the actinics on all day if you had corals to keep alive. But for an octo tank the best bet is to just have a kight cycle for about 12 hrs light and 12hrs dark or thereabouts.

If your octo hides a lot through the day try reducing the lights to just one standard bulb and see if the dimmer conditions help?

cheers
 
lighting with UV "blacklight"?

Marginally on-topic, I've noticed that the Long Beach aquarium uses UV lighting for a lot of their animals, including their GPO. Although it makes some things stand out in a haunted-house-ride-at-disnyland sort of way, I don't like the unnatural look it gives (and it doesn't let me see the cool camo pics the way Carol's "Gimpy" pics showed recently). More directly, though, I would think it would be icky for the octopus; I'm sure octo eyes are good at the blue wavelengths, and probably can see further into the UV than humans, since many sea critters can... I'd expect the light to appear very bright to the octopus even though humans can only see the day-glow effect of stuff that flouresces under UV. I worry more, though, that all that UV could have a bad effect on the octo's skin... I guess if it hurt the octopus, they'd stop doing it, though...

Anyway, I was just curious... even if I get an octo tank eventually, the whole UV look is pretty unappealing to me, even if the octo doesn't actually mind...
 
Ditto on the look of blue tanks :smile:

were the bulbs used really UV or were they just actinic? I havnt heard of UV bulbs being used???
 

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