Blue light

[Andyman1]

I was in a fish shop in (near) Nottingham and they had a blue light chiclid tank. It looked amazing. But is it good for the fish? Has anyone tried it, or know anything about blue lighting?

 

[Kryten]

As far as I know it is fine. It may miss out on a few colours in the light spectrum so it would be best to have a second bulb to provide this for a while in the day

The effect works best with blue gravel at the base, my friend had this and it looked stunning, he even had blue ornaments, and with large-leaved plants, it came up a treat, I may have my nexty tank like that myself

 

[Dubby]

Blue light is supposed to encourage algae growth. So pls.be careful.

 

[LesGerber]

I was at the LF chain last night and they had a compact flou light and from the way it was explained to me you need the blues and the whites. Now I am not certain of the reliability of the clerk but he did seem up on his game and he said the blues we more for growth and are ideal for coral. Not real sure as I havent had a chance to do any research on this light as of yet so I am going on info handed to me


Les

 

[Andyman1]

Thanks guys..more opinions welcomed. I was thinking of having the white lights on for the majority of the time and the blues for in the evening. Not sure about the blue gravel though - prefer a more naturalistic look (he says whilst thinking about having a blue light in his tank!!!!)

 

[superman]

Two of my three tanks have actinic blue 03 bulbs in them. I am not a science/physics guy, so I will explain what I have learned about these bulbs in my own layman's terms. From what I understand, o3 blue is ideal for coral, in fact some companies market there 03 blue bulbs under names that suggest they will be used in a saltwater tank set up. In all my reading about actinic blue 03 lighting I haven't read anything that suggests that there are bad affects on the fish from this source of light. I have noticed that my plants love this type of light, and that I have increased green algae growth in my tanks (which is just fine since I have snails. The algae growth isn't out of control or anything, but I have had to cut down on the amount of time that the tank lights are on so that I don't get a cloudiness to the water (when using an actinic blue bulb, water that is green and cloudy just appears cloudy, you can't really see the green of the water) All the fish that I keep are for the most part night predators, so that is why I started using just actinic blue lighting, but now I would put actinic blue lighting on ANY tank for ANY type of fish, it is that appealing!! I would recommend to some of you to mix and match, like using 50/50 bulbs that are half actinic and half daylight (many bulb manufacturers make these kinds of bulbs) this way you would have both spectrums but still have a blue tinge that is very appealing. If you have a two bulb set up I would go with 1 actinic and 1 daylight bulb. a three bulb set up I would go with 2 actinic and 1 daylight bulb. As far as bulb manufacturers go I have had great results with coralite bulbs and would totally recommend them. There are bad actinic bulbs out there, I had one that lost all it's blue spectrum in about 2 months, this was a bulb given to me as a gift, and the brand wasn't printed on the bulb, I can't remember the name of the brand. I have told many people that once you start playing around with actinic blue lighting you can't be without it! Have fun!

 

[LesGerber]

Superman, I believe these are the lights and bulbs you are reffering too. If so your saying that it is good for plant growth I am looking to increase my lights and since I am going to have to buy a new lighting system I thought compact flous
here are the links

2x65 watter with 50/50 bulbs

4x65 light system

Replacement 50/50 bulbs

I found the prices on these to be fairly good, I was quoted by the local chain for the 4x65 at 400.00 US so compared to them its a great price

Check these when you get a chance if you would please


Les

 

[cryosi]

the blue light is a marine actinic (normal marine job)or a blue moon light (Interpet- tropical light), Ihave both and use both on 2 totally different tanks I use them for the catfish and plecs i keep as it is like a moon lit night for them. It is best if you use them during the day to use aquaglow, or triton, or some other lights to help gie a full balance of the light spectrum to the tank.

 

[gadazobe]

Would they work in a heavily planted tank?

 

[cichlid_freak]

At my LFS, they were trying out a new substrate. They also happened to be using a new tank with one blue light and one white light. I think they were compact flourescents (sp?) There was great plant growth for the first 2 or 3 weeks, but they're higher light requiring plants started to die off after a short period of strong growth. There was plenty of wattage over the tank, and if it were 2 daytimes, it would be more than enough light. They will soon be switching the light to another daytime. So, I don't think that this is the best light for high light requiring plants, but good for others possibly.

 

[superman]

Those were some of the lights that I was talking about LesGerber. I have found that this type of light really does help some of my plants, but then again, not many of mine have need for a ton of light like most red plants do. As some others have suggested I would mix in some daylilght bulbs, or do a 50/50 type of bulb like Les gave a link to.

 

[superman]

I thought of more too add...In a heavily planted tank I would not go with a 50/50 bulbs only, I would actually get some actinic bulbs, and some daylight, using more daylight than actinic. Keep in mind that other water parameters like CO2 and nitrate can dictate how much your plants utilize light. So make sure that you are looking at the

 

[Great Lakes]

I use coralife straight actinics. Two blue, mixed with three daylights. Three tier cycle. Blues, then a day bulb, then the next two day bulbs. Results not in yet, but looks promising.

Les, shop around a lot before buying power compacts. They are getting cheaper and more common every day. Are you going to fit them in a hood?

 

[LesGerber]

When we got this tank GL Allie was wanting nautical theme so we bought the stand that looked most natural, and to be honest the top with the lid and light looks bad so I had given consideration to building a cnaopy to match and if I do that I will be able to put just about any light I want in there. At this moment I am not really sure which lighting I am wanting to run, all I know is I need more getting to the plants if I want them to shine.


Les