I have a 265 reef with 3-250 watt MH 14000k hamiltons and 6-6ft URI VHO's (1-aqua sun,2-50/50 and 3-actinics) and 3 sets of blue moon lights. On a whim I put a 40 watt black light over my tank and the colors were..well spaceage ,60's psychedelic WOW. I did not leave the light on just wanted to see what it would look like. Would adding 2 or 3- 40 watt black lights to the canopy have a detrimental effect to my corals?( I have 3-660 Ice cap ballasts and they could power them) I have looked up MH (175 W)black lights also ,what would happen if I put a couple of MH blacklights in the canopy?
black light for a tank?
- Thread starter kronan
- Start date
SoFloReefer
New member
Black lights put out UV light correct? I have heard this is detrimental to coral.
jreefer113
New member
UV is detrimental to coral? what do you think comes from the sun?
JaredWaites
Premium Member
Have you tried searching the forums?
I think it has been mentioned quite a few times.
I think it has been mentioned quite a few times.
SoFloReefer
New member
Yes the sun does put out UV A, B, and C. UV C is filtered out in the atmosphere. Ultraviolet radiation is known to cause cellular damage in animals including corals. This is why metal halides have the glass shield to filter out the significant amounts of UV radiation they put out. I'm sure some corals are more tolerant to UV than others. I think shallow water corals are more tolerant than deep water corals for example. Some of the pigments corals have protect them to some degree from UV radiation. I have no idea how much UV light black lights produce or even what levels are considered detrimental. My point to all of this is way would you want to expose you corals long or short term to something that is bad? Just like you don't want to lay out in the sun with no sun tan lotion for years if you care to avoid skin cancer.
aninjaatemyshoe
New member
Corals don't put on suntan lotion... I guarantee that they can handle the amount of UV light that a simple blacklight produces. It is nowhere near the amount that is present during a sunny day.
UV light is not "bad." The fact is that UV light is quite beneficial. For instance, we can't utilize vitamin D without exposure to UV. But, like anything else, there can be too much of it. Bare naked metal halides are a good example of this. You can't even stare at a bare DE MH bulb for a second without risking retinal damage. That is too much UV light, far more than a sunny day.
In the end, I'd say that the blacklight bulb would neither be beneficial nor detrimental to your livestock.
UV light is not "bad." The fact is that UV light is quite beneficial. For instance, we can't utilize vitamin D without exposure to UV. But, like anything else, there can be too much of it. Bare naked metal halides are a good example of this. You can't even stare at a bare DE MH bulb for a second without risking retinal damage. That is too much UV light, far more than a sunny day.
In the end, I'd say that the blacklight bulb would neither be beneficial nor detrimental to your livestock.
aninjaatemyshoe
New member
Damn, I just noticed it was a MH blacklight. I was thinking one of those party bulbs. Yeah, I should've read that better. No, I don't think it's a good idea.
http://www.bulbman.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4351_8850 I found them here at bulbman.com, I would only use them once in a while not everyday I saw a pic of a coral tank under black ligt and was impressed, anyone else have an imput it would be appreciated.
elkinsda
Member
Heres a thought use some roscolux blue filters for the blacklight effect. The coral colors sure pop!
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/roscolux.asp#colors
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/roscolux.asp#colors
gatohoser
New member
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/atj/index.php
A good read on light. Halfway in is a section about light penetrating water. Certain wavelengths (colors) of light penetrate farther than others. UV penetrates about 20m of water. Much deeper than your aquarium. A 175w MH bulb (even a blacklight one) likely does not compare to the amount of UV-A produced by the sun but you have to remember as people have said before that not all corals come from the upper part of the water. Your corals that are from the uppermost sections of the reef will probably enjoy the color (it stimulates photosynthesis) but any deeper water corals of which just about all face at least some amounts of UV light in nature will not be as happy in the UV light. So really it depends on what you have under the light. And even if you told us definitively what you keep we probably couldn't help ya figure out if it will be ok. If you want to experiment let us know what happened
A good read on light. Halfway in is a section about light penetrating water. Certain wavelengths (colors) of light penetrate farther than others. UV penetrates about 20m of water. Much deeper than your aquarium. A 175w MH bulb (even a blacklight one) likely does not compare to the amount of UV-A produced by the sun but you have to remember as people have said before that not all corals come from the upper part of the water. Your corals that are from the uppermost sections of the reef will probably enjoy the color (it stimulates photosynthesis) but any deeper water corals of which just about all face at least some amounts of UV light in nature will not be as happy in the UV light. So really it depends on what you have under the light. And even if you told us definitively what you keep we probably couldn't help ya figure out if it will be ok. If you want to experiment let us know what happened
pjf
Premium Member
I purchased one of these blacklight LED's with a wavelength of 405 nanometers: http://www.photonlight.com/UV-Ultra...ED-Lights-p/uv-ultraviolet-led-blacklight.htm
In the dark, it causes some of my corals and anemones to glow green. The blacklight LED is too weak to cause noticeable fluorescence when other lights are on. I don't know if it harms the corals but the instructions advise not to stare into the blacklight.
In the dark, it causes some of my corals and anemones to glow green. The blacklight LED is too weak to cause noticeable fluorescence when other lights are on. I don't know if it harms the corals but the instructions advise not to stare into the blacklight.
Busted?? I saw coraline turn blood red ,my torches turn green w/red tips, saddleback mottled green,trumpets purple and some acros ..well, lets just say most of the livestock looked different, I admit ,I had to turn out all the lights in the house ,but I only had a 40 watt bulb over a 265 and the MH I saw was rated at 250 and 400 watts respectivly . next reply.. I am going to try a few things in the future I just wanted to know if anybody did this already.
I'll have to turn off my LEDs and see what I see. I dont have a huge # of corals, but a lot of zoas, montis, yumas, etc and the only thing I saw change was the water itself became very "cloudy". The UV was reflecting something in the water itself. I know phosphorous reacts to UV, hope thats not a sign of my phosphate...
