I have seen blue lights mentioned (for viewing catfish) a couple of times and was wondering if by blue people meant actinic? Apparently they don`t bother catfish like a regular wave light will. Is that correct? Thanks.
Does blue light equal actinic?
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Blue =/= actinic.
Actinic lights can be blue, but not all blue lights are actinic. Actinic lights are those lights which elicit a photochemical reaction in something else. In the aquarium hobby, an actinic light is a type of light used to emit near ultraviolet light to facilitate photosynthesis in corals. A pure actinic would be a light with a very high kelvin rating, of 18000k or higher, with a wavelength spike at about 400nm, and would incidentally appear to be quite blue. A 50/50 actinic would have the same UVA spike at about 400nm, but would have a large bell curve type peak ranging from 600 to about 500 nm as well. This would result in a very bluish but still white light.
Personally, I wouldn't use actinic lights on a FW setup.
EDIT- the blue lights to which people are referring are what are commonly called moon lights. You can think of them accurately as night lights for fish.
Actinic lights can be blue, but not all blue lights are actinic. Actinic lights are those lights which elicit a photochemical reaction in something else. In the aquarium hobby, an actinic light is a type of light used to emit near ultraviolet light to facilitate photosynthesis in corals. A pure actinic would be a light with a very high kelvin rating, of 18000k or higher, with a wavelength spike at about 400nm, and would incidentally appear to be quite blue. A 50/50 actinic would have the same UVA spike at about 400nm, but would have a large bell curve type peak ranging from 600 to about 500 nm as well. This would result in a very bluish but still white light.
Personally, I wouldn't use actinic lights on a FW setup.
EDIT- the blue lights to which people are referring are what are commonly called moon lights. You can think of them accurately as night lights for fish.
Marineland makes some cheaper led units that switch white and blue or just blue...there the "single bright" series. Low wattage and stay cool also. I run a half dozen of em in my fishroom. Even cheaper option is blue colored led rope lights.
