Did ATI change the actinic spectrum?

[Yates273]

I am running a 48” Aquatic Life hybrid with 3 Blue Plus and 1 true actinic. I thought the true actinic was more of a dark purple almost like a black light. Mine looks nothing like the portrayal of the bulb I see online like here. It’s more like the aqua blue special. Could it be possible they put the wrong bulb in the package?

 

[oreo54]

ATI doesn't "make bulbs" (AFAICT) so they are at the mercy of their supplier.
Name should be printed on the bulb I believe.
What does that say?
Doesn't mean it couldn't be mis-labelled either though.

 

[Yates273]

It does say actinic on the bulb but its
Just not the deep dark purple I thought it would be. I see Gisseman has a pure actinic that appears to be the color I wanted just to make my corals “pop”. I know they really don’t do anything for par. I just thought the ATI actinic was the same but I guess not.

 

[Williamson’s Reef Verified Sponsor]

I was disappointed with the actinic also. I went all blue plus in my hybrid fixture. I had 2 blue plus and 2 actinic. It looks much better. And the par boost is nice.

 

[Smite]

Actinic put out a purplish white light. They've never been really dark blue or anything. Dim, and do pull a lot of fluorescence but not like a blue LED strip . I run 2 true actinics because I love the extra little pop they give throughout the day but also added pop in combination with blue LED.

 

[oreo54]

I see Gisseman has a pure actinic that appears to be the color I wanted just to make my corals “pop”. I know they really don’t do anything for par. I just thought the ATI actinic was the same but I guess not.

There pretty close spectrally.

Plenty of "par" in relation to output of course.
Depends on ones definition.
Par, by definition, doesn't include anything outside 400 to 700nm.
Photosynthesis doesn't "honor" man made constraints.
wee bit more blue/green in the ati wee bit more red in the Geisseman.

Surprised they would visually look much different.. but ???
Again depends on the lot I suppose.

 

[Big E]

For those complaining about the "visual" pop, this is not what the bulb is designed to do.
You will see results in corals that excite pigments in the approx 400-420. Plenty of corals can benefit from it, so you will see some corals color up to higher, or more intense levels visually without casting heavy blue/purple onto your tank.

If you want more visual on/off pop go with LED bars..........they don't have the green and red in them to balance out the spike visually.

I've used both the ATI and Geissemannn actinic and they look the same visually.