dangers of LEDs?

F

freewilly2

New member
hello, does anyone have any research data as to the detramental effects of spillover from their LEDs (kessil a150 ocean blue) into the room the tank is in?

nervous that to have a one year old crawling around and playing close to the tank. any insight are appreciated
 
why would there be any detramental effect of light spillover? It's light. It's not like it's UV rays from the sun.
 
Some research show that too much blue light can be detrimental
That's all I know on this subject!


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Aquarium lights are FAR less intense than sunshine coming through a window. I don't see a problem.

If anything I'd be less worried about LEDs because they can only output a single wavelength of light. If there are no UV LEDs, there will be no UV light. Some fixtures have a very tiny ratio of UV lights, but it's only enough to make the coral colors "pop".
 
It is not going to be any different than any other light source. Flourescent and MH put out WAY more UV and even some IR that are not in most LED fixtures. If anything, the LEDs with their limited spectrum might be better in this regard even if the limited spectrum might not be great for all corals.

Any waves can be dangerous in high quantities, but would not sweat this. For example, I don't do anything in my home around my aquariums, but I do frame and hang a LOT of very valuable collectable vinyl records in my office near a tank and I make sure that they are behind museum quality 99.99 UV glass - part of this is that glass is very inexpensive, so why risk it? I would not stare into the light for long, but if you are doing this, then you have other problems.

In any case, try and limit your spillover and use every one of those watts to grow some corals. :)
 
I have the Kessil A360WE's, I also am concerned of the light spectrum, since I can see the leds when sitting on the couch as they are mounted to the aquarium back via a goose neck.

I love the look, and would prefer not to have to make a canopy, but with the Kessils I do believe there is some UV in there? Their website doesn't give any information on the leds used.
 
Unless your little one sits in the same spot to bask in the led lights day in and day out, I can't see there being a problem. Never heard of anyone getting skin cancer from their aquarium lighting. I did read a story where someone's wife sat under a MH light with the glass removed to tan......
 
The only real danger is looking up at the light, directly into the emitting diodes. This is true for MH as well.
 
oseymour said:
This sounds like crap to me...any sources?
Click to expand...

Articles like this ALL OVER THE PLACE..
https://www.macular.org/ultra-violet-and-blue-light

There are also warnings in the datasheets of virtually all high power LEDs warning of dangers from direct exposure.. (not about blue light directly but ALL LED light)..
Its very clear its a STRONG point source light..

I have certainly seen "spots" for quite a while after brief (seconds) exposure to high power LEDs when building fixtures of my own..

Are the risks greatly mitigated by distance from said light source.. Absolutely..
Are the risks greatly decreased by lenses and being on the extremes of the focal angles.. Sure is..

Would I let my kid stare directly into an LED inches from its face.. Heck no..
Would I be concerned about the "spillover" light and walking past an LED in the same room.. No not really..

Having said that.. I personally do not like and will not allow "spillover" from LED fixtures.. Its "distracting" to me when I'm in the same room..
I have build canopies or "shields" in the past to eliminate it..
 
mcgyvr said:
Articles like this ALL OVER THE PLACE..
https://www.macular.org/ultra-violet-and-blue-light

There are also warnings in the datasheets of virtually all high power LEDs warning of dangers from direct exposure.. (not about blue light directly but ALL LED light)..
Its very clear its a STRONG point source light..

I have certainly seen "spots" for quite a while after brief (seconds) exposure to high power LEDs when building fixtures of my own..

Are the risks greatly mitigated by distance from said light source.. Absolutely..
Are the risks greatly decreased by lenses and being on the extremes of the focal angles.. Sure is..

Would I let my kid stare directly into an LED inches from its face.. Heck no..
Would I be concerned about the "spillover" light and walking past an LED in the same room.. No not really..

Having said that.. I personally do not like and will not allow "spillover" from LED fixtures.. Its "distracting" to me when I'm in the same room..
I have build canopies or "shields" in the past to eliminate it..
Click to expand...

Interesting. This is the first time I'm hearing of the dangers of LEDS. Of course I've had that white spot feeling before when I accidentally turned on LEDS while working on them. But I'm from Jamaican, where it's bright and sunny all day every day. The sun we get here in NYC is nothing compared.
 
Staring at any strong source of light is dangerous and we should teach our kids to not do that (no matter how pretty the blue light is)

An someone who has burnt his cornea (the most incredible pain you can imagine) due to arc-burn, I will say that the difference is that your eyes will naturally contract the pupils and you will squint and reactively look away if the light is bright. But UV is invisible. You (and your eyes) have no measure of intensity or duration. That means that you can't tell when you're being damaged.

My pain started HOURS after the incident. Arc-flash is bright but the UV output is insane and invisible. But I felt nothing until that night when I needed to be rushed to the emergency room.

Unless you have an exposed HQI MH, a dedicated UV LED bulb or looking into the sun, you're probably ok being in the same space. But don't look into the bulb, or any direct reflection of the bulb... water being a reflective surface.
 
LEDs are definitely more intense than most other light sources. I built a DIY LED fixture using 3W LEDs and set it bulbs down on a TV tray to test it (the LEDs were probably an inch off the surface of the tray). That tray still has holes in the plastic coating from where the LEDs melted it.

I don't quite understand enough to know why they melted holes in it because they don't really put off heat that way. Best guess is that it was just flat out photon bombardment. Whatever the reason, it was pretty neat.

They can be seen through a welding mask, so definitely don't look directly into them.

My fixture has a couple UV wavelength LEDs, but you can see when they're on and they have a purplish tint. Are they not true UV?
 
freewilly2 said:
hello, does anyone have any research data as to the detramental effects of spillover from their LEDs (kessil a150 ocean blue) into the room the tank is in?

nervous that to have a one year old crawling around and playing close to the tank. any insight are appreciated
Click to expand...

Since its a kessil a150 I wouldn't be to concerned, especially with spillover light. I mean they can't even burn up a camo poly 4" below :p

I mean they are about as intense as Richard Simmons acting like a drill sergeant
 
JZinCO said:
Maybe the prior poster was replying to the effect of blue light on awake-ness?

sources:
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/tablets-and-smartphones-might-be-sapping-your-sleep/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_blue_lights_technology

non-issue if you keep lights on a regular schedule.
Click to expand...

^^this, in part

I would not go so far as to say "non issue" but the major problem with blue light (which often is disproportionately high from LEDs) is the disruption of normal circadian rhythms. Blue light in the evening/night is linked with disrupted rhythms, impacting sleep and many other aspects of health.

The blue light spillover will probably not impact a child's sleep patterns much, but I would pay attention and be sure this is the case. As Karimwassef and others have noted, exposure to bright blue LEDs is damaging to vision, at least in the short-term and probably long-term as well.
 
5 years of tank keeping, with heavy blue lighting at night and me and my kids sleep like a rock. And the UVA wavelengths (barely UVA, just a couple nanometers away from visible light) are completely harmless. It's the UVB and shorter wavelengths that are known to cause damage. You're safe. Tank lights aren't going to hurt you or your kids. Not by their ambient spillover anyway.


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