Who is familiar with minerals…

[Magnum Man]

Lately I saw a story on TV, on one of those”weird earth” type shows, about glowing rocks in Lake Superior…
As I’m from Minnesota, I found it interesting… turns out the rocks contained sodalite… and doesn’t often glow on their own, but do occasionally, & particularly around UV light
I’m just wondering if those types minerals ( like Sodalite and Flourite ) would leach into an aquarium??? and why Seachem sells a black sand called Flourite, that doesn't glow ( at least they don't advertise it as glowing sand...

Lake Superior Sodalite (Yooperlite) Michigan

Lake Superior Sodalite is a variety of Sodalite, composed of syenite clasts containing fluorescent sodalite. These stones are made up of fragments of course-grained igneous rock, similar in composition to granite. Under ultraviolet illumination the mineral sodalite will fluoresce, creating...

goodearthrocksgallery.com

 

[Magnum Man]

Flourite...

 

[GaryE]

Fluorite dissolves...

 

[Magnum Man]

more on this effect and some color changing effects...

Fluorescent Minerals and Rocks: They Glow under UV Light!

A small number of minerals and rocks will glow with spectacular colors under ultraviolet light. Learn how this happens.

geology.com

Lake Superior Sodalite is found in usually water smoothed stones on the beaches, often under water, so it may be more resistant to dissolving???

What Are Yooperlites? Updated Guide to Finding Michigan's Glowing Rock with MAP

Discover everything you need to know about Yooperlites, the Michigan gem that glows! Learn where to find them, how to identify them, and how to care for them.

mymichiganbeach.com

Finding Lake Superior Sodalite - - Video Search Results

The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

video.search.yahoo.com

 

[Uberhoust]

Seachem Flourite (note the spelling) and the mineral Fluorite (CaF2) are two different things. I used to find the naming confusing myself, why Seachem choose the name flourite for their clay based substrate, likely because not too many people are familiar with fluorite.

Fluorite is not the best mineral for fluorescent effects but it is the most commonly known. A lot of minerals will fluoresce but so will a number of natural items such as Douglas Fir sap, some pine needles, some fungi, and scorpions (it's a lot of fun to walk the desert at night with a LED blacklight, the scorpion population is usually higher than one expects). Chalcedony from Arizona often fluoresces very well, as do a number of agates from various areas, it all depends on the various other elements found in the silca matrix.

If you are looking for fluorescent materials you can get a number of LED flashlights now that range in the 395nm (most common) to 365nm (not as common but still available). The lower wavelengths usually work better but even with the 395nm lights you can still get good results. Lower frequences work better most of the time but require pulsed LEDs or quartz fluorescent tubes and more power to work, lower frequencies can also be a health risk with 254nm often used to kill infectious organisms.

One interesting thing (trivia) to note is that iron in the crystals of otherwise fluorescent minerals will either partially or fully stop the fluorescence. Don't know how you would use this information.

I personally don't believe fluorescent materials should be part of an aquarium, primarily because I don't know how well fish and other creatures handle the higher energy, lower frequency light required to make them fluoresce. It is a highly unnatural situation.

 

[MaloK]

The blue led on most aquarium light are between 435-495 nm and are enough to trigger the effect with a lower intensity, but still pretty cool.