Actinic burned out

[vaporlockv2]

My actinic went up in smoke. I was wondering if anyone had an 18" or a 24" that I could use until I can scrounge up enough money to buy another one

[kgross]

Do you need a VHO/T5/PC/NO or what?

[vaporlockv2]

Oh yeah, that might help! haha it is a t8 actually

[kgross]

T8 NO. I don't have any 18 or 24 inch bulbs, but I do have 15 inch bulbs. What burnt up, bulb, fixture or what? I do have some 24 inch single bulb strip lights.

Kim

[vaporlockv2]

the bulb, it was kinda flickering on and of yesterday so I replaced the starter and it did the same thing. Then when I got home from the meeting it was off. I replaced it with just a regular florescent light to make sure it still worked and it came on. So it has to be the bulb. so you did say you had a single 24''?

[kgross]

Starter does not do anything once the bulb is lite. So you either have a bad bulb or bad ballast, most likely bulb. I don't think I have any 24 inch actinic t8 bulbs at all, I do have some daylight and I think 50/50's.


Kim

[vaporlockv2]

This is on a frag tank, it is 2 ft deep by 4ft long and 1 foot across. I have two 40w 6500k bulbs plus my actinic. If I put in one of your 50/50 would that provide me with enough actinic until I can buy a new one?

[kgross]

I will tell you you don't need any actinic lighting at all to grow corals, and if you are low on lighting running all daylight type bulbs will give you more light energy into the tank. Now the corals will not look as nice when in the tank, and depending on the coral some will change in colors, but they will still grow and be healthy, so don't worry about the actinic light as much as total light. With a 4 foot long frag tank, why don't you do some 4 foot long bulbs, over it?

Kim

[vaporlockv2]

Well the regular florescent ones are 48 inches so they work great. But am running all this stuff on an extremely tight budget and the 18 inch bulb was all I could afford. I know it wasn't long enough but that's all I had. Now you say the color won't be the same, if I put them under the actinic when I can get one will their color come back?

[kgross]

Yes if you put the corals back under an actinic light the color will shift back to the same it was before (if the color actually changed).

For a 48 inch setup.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_245536-58659-NX ... $y=19$x=43

Then one of these

http://www.lowes.com/pd_148012-371-1396 ... $y=12$x=40

and one of Actinic bulb, like the Lightening Rod Pro Actinic I have for $19. Puts you at less than $40 total for 2 48 inch 40 watt bulbs to grow your corals.

Kim
.

[vaporlockv2]

Thanks kim. I actually bought the shoplight and the bulb you suggested last night. I spent the last of my money on it and when I got home my actinic was burnt. But if you think they'll be ok then I guess I'll have to do without one right now