General Care Discussion :: Let's Have A Discussion, The Subject? Actinic Lighting

[Reptinut]

Hey guys!

Has anyone ever heard about someone keeping turtles sucessfully (Specifically Yellow Bellied Sliders) using only Actinic lighting?

Someone asked me about it the other day and I wasn't sure about what advice to give. So I thought I would start a discussion on it.

I have trawled google but couldn't find any information on Actinic lighting other than marine aquarium keepers use it for sustaining coral in their tanks.

So let's see what we can come up with. I know I've mentioned it in a previous post but I think it deserves a seperate discussion.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

[Mauk]

I found some reading about it as well at http://futurepet.com/trivia/aquariums-lighting.htm

not much detail but it does say it's kinda blue?

[Reptinut]

Good source of information. Good find!

With that site it tends to suggest, after reading it, that Actinic lighting, is sufficient to support turtles in a healthy environment...

In my honest opinion this information needs to be more readily available in pet stores to people buying a turtle for the first time. Since Actinic lighting is becoming increasingly more popular in smaller tanks and some bigger tanks alike.

Luckily for me, in the past I kept a Gecko, so I knew about the importance of UV light. And he died due to misinformation being passed about easily and freely by the pet shop in which I got him. I had him for 3 years until he died of a word that will strike fear into the hearts of any reptile keeper past or present "Impaction"

[seanwb]

My interpretation of that site is that actininc has no UVB, The site says UVB is 320, and actinic graph shows no light below 350. Therefore it is not sufficient by itself.

Actinic lights are mainly used in marine aquariums.

[steve]

http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/ ... ting_guide

Actinic lighting peaks in the 420 nanometer range and emits a fluorescent blue light and is usually used as supplemental lighting. Not only is actinic lighting beneficial to photosynthetic invertebrates, it is also aesthetically pleasing to the eye when used to supplement "daylight" lighting.

UVA and UVB are between the 280 - 400 nanometer range so it's possible Actinic lights are not beneficial at all.

[Reptinut]

Yeah,

Thats what Ive been thinking all along. Posted topic to see if anyone more knowledgeable about turtles than myself had anything to add.

So Actinic is not beneficial in any way whatsoever?

On the other end of the scale, can Actinic lighting cause harm to turtles?

Ps, on a totally unrelated subject, me and my Fiance are getting some Triops soon, out of curiosity, never thought I'd be growing perhistoric shrimp as a pet!

[untsmurf]

Based on the information provided in the link, it looks like the only thing it will do is help invertebrates and corals grow and it will also produce algae in your tank. And since turtles are neither invertebrates or coral, nor do we really want algae in our tanks, i think this light would be counterproductive.