Blacklight

[The-Wolf]

anyone use a blacklight?
what are the advantages/disadvantages?

wolud you have one or not?

 

[lady_tanksalot]

never heard of a black light wolf and not too sure how that would work

sounds interesting though

how would it look?

 

[Lateral Line]

You mean a UV lamp?

 

[The-Wolf]

not quite UV
Blacklight is defined as; Light in the near ultraviolet range, just short of visible light.

Think back to the 70's and Discoteques, (makes white phosphoress[sp])thats blacklight.

 

[Lateral Line]

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking about. They do emit UV light, it is that which makes the girls bras and the guys dandruff glow.

I suspect they could cause eye problems, or possibly even skin problems in fish exposed to them over a long period, I would, however, not expect that to be a big problem - they are supposed to be safe for biological systems, (discotheque customers). Things like Panchax, Pantodon, Anableps etc. would probably be the most affected.

The question really comes down to why you would want to do this. They emit very little visible light, and fish, unless painted/dyed with some fluorescent material, would not fluoresce.

Some minerals fluoresce brightly in UV light, indeed, I used to go prospecting at night with a portable UV unit, but most of these minerals are metal ores and the like which would be toxic in a tank. I would also expect the water to absorb a good amount of the radiation.

If I had the space over my tank and a spare starter, I'd use a full spectrum lamp.

 

[The-Wolf]

Ok I think I'll not bother, it was just an idea.
Thanks LL

 

[NinjaSmurf]

I've tried this and all I can say is... very disappointing. All I got was this green glow that went about an inch and a half into my tank, and I couldn't see any of my fish. I was really hoping it would work, but it didn't...