black light on tank?

[450reef]

what would this do? what little i could find says something about to much uv? i would imagine they would make corals pop like crazy but there hasto be some reason why people dont use them

 

[RyanEG]

UV would bleach corals and other inverts. Not a good idea.

 

[Jacwil]

And yourself!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

URI VHO actinics make corals fluoresce better than blacklight fluorescents (IME) and that's why most people don't run blacklight bulbs instead of actinics.

I'm pretty sure blacklights won't kill corals. I've seen people run blacklights.

 

[Jacwil]

Somewhat on-topic

Somewhat on-topic

So if someone was in a dark room and hit a switch, going from VHO's to say a 453nm LED, which would result in more coral "poppage?"

 

[Randrew215]

I'm setting up a blacklight over a freshwater tank to run for for 3 hours/day. When I read up on it there was a lot of contention that it would make fish 'bleed internally' or 'go blind,' but the lights I'm using are 468nm (a little longer wavelengths than 453s but neither are far from the visible spectrum) and emits only UVA (v. UVB) light. I'll have them set up by the new year and will be very vigilant in looking for adverse effects to tank inhabitants. Not corals, true, but a minimum basis of referent if this a longer term change you're looking to institute.

 

[teamdulski]

I'm setting up a blacklight over a freshwater tank to run for for 3 hours/day. When I read up on it there was a lot of contention that it would make fish 'bleed internally' or 'go blind,' but the lights I'm using are 468nm (a little longer wavelengths than 453s but neither are far from the visible spectrum) and emits only UVA (v. UVB) light. I'll have them set up by the new year and will be very vigilant in looking for adverse effects to tank inhabitants. Not corals, true, but a minimum basis of referent if this a longer term change you're looking to institute.

The visible spectrum starts at 400nm.

 

[Randrew215]

Touche, Adam. Went back and looked-368nm.

 

[450reef]

ok so not to sound dumb but im really not good with the whole spectrum thing or uv light rays. all i was going on was back in my high school pot smoking days i had some crazy blacklight posters and man they would pop off the wall , so i figured they would do the same to coral

 

[Hiltonc57]

I have blacklights all over in my party room (also where my tank is) the light is emitted all around that tank. I have 10 48'' lights in a 50x15 size room. the lights run for more than 7 hours everytime i have a party and i have not seen any affect on the corals. I dont know long term... IME atinic lighting makes them 'pop' more.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I saw Guy's experimental blacklight aquarium in this thread