Blacklight as moonlight?

sean · 08-25-2003, 10:52 PM

Hello all,
I just found a 24 blacklight that I put over my reef to act as a sort of 'moonlight' affect and nightime viewing. I just put it on last night and set it on a timer for a little over 2 hours after the main lights go out.
Will this type of lighting help the corals at all? I have seen the latest lighting craze which are these very little blue pin point lights for the 'moon' affect, which according to those selling them, "stimulates coral reproduction and growth".
I know that I don't have it on long enough now for the 'coral reproduction', more for night time viewing before I go to bed at his time. And, of course, for the neat 'glowing' affect is creates with the corals.
Can this black light cause any problems with the corals, fish, ect.? Can it cause my eyes any problems?
All advice and opinions welcome.
Thanks
Sean

Imaexpat2 · 08-25-2003, 11:18 PM

Yes it can do some eye damage because of the UV light emmitted. Looks too cool for viewing though!!!

Before this latest craze in "moon light" I had already put a single 40 watt Actinic blue light in my canopy before this latest fade hit the street. It makes for good viewing under night time like conditions...not too bright, not too dark, and I get almost the same effect as a black light. The added plus is...we already know its "good" for my corals. I keep it on when the other lighting goes off. I have had explosive coralline growth as a result. The bulb incidently being used is Tritons "Blue Moon". I chose this actinc 03 bulb over others becuase of GARF's endorsement of this bulb. Judging form the improvement in Coralline growth with this light...I think they might really be on to something here.

Will this work for you as great as it works for me? I dont know. Everyone seems to have thier own little way to do things, some that even go against the grain of popular opinion, and it works for them. Well, this is one of those things that has worked for me. Maybe it might be worth expirmenting with? The cheapest moonlight I have seen advertised is about 30 bucks or so. My light fixture for 48" NO bulbs cost me a whopping $8.00 at the local Ace Hardware store. Further more, I get 40 watts(80 if I put two bulbs in the fixture) instead instead of 1-5 watts that the cheaper moon lights provide. You do the math! But then again, I am Joe Tightwad, as opposed to Joe Millionaire!

Just food for thought or an idea.........................................

Krux · 08-26-2003, 12:58 AM

i use a blacklight for added flourescence, as well as for evening viewing. i do not have my bulb mounted in a reflector, and it is really not giving me the light i would expect. i am going to make a reflector or something for it before i give up on it though.

squid · 08-26-2003, 09:45 AM

I wouldn't advise using black light, it can cause eye damage to your fish

laddy00 · 08-26-2003, 10:20 AM

I would just go with a standard blue party bulb with a lamp fixture from Lowes. I like to keep things a little more natural so I don't use blacklights. The flourescents it creates are really cool though.

Geoff · 08-26-2003, 10:29 AM

Squid is right on this one. the frequency of light of the blacklight is very bright to the critters and fish in the tank! our eyes so not pick out this spectrum well at all, this is why it seems dark to us. that blacklight is putting as much light into the tank as a normal 40w daylight bulb is! a lot of the critters are not having a nightime. as far as coraline algae going nuts well i can kinda see that. it prolly uses this spectrum. since most algaes do not really care if there is a day and night schedule it gets to grow for all day.

if you really want to watch your critters at night use a red bulb. red is the least penetrating spectrum through SW. red to the marine critters is even less bright than the blacklight is to us.

for my moonlight i have a 7.5w blue party light only. at full on it still is a little bright for a true moon effect. this bulb is over an entire 125g tank also.

G~

Madmike · 08-26-2003, 12:52 PM

I just built a simple moonlight using 2 superbright led's and an old cell phone DC power supply. Cost less than 10 bucks total and gives a cool shimmering effect through the water that my blue vho doesn't.

Mike

yardboy · 08-27-2003, 01:30 PM

Where did you get the "superbright led's"?
I've been a little perplexed about the pricing of the led "moonlights" I was given an led flashlight that is one bright little rascal and it's cost was less than 8 dollars. I like your idea to rig up a fixture yourself.

Doug1 · 08-27-2003, 01:37 PM

MadMike, very nice effect. I think most of the blue bulbs, ie party light and such are way to bright. I think 3.5 watt would be kewl, but finding the small base sockets is a pain, unless you recycle an old lamp or something.
Agree the red makes a nicer nite viewing light, that color doesn't register much with most things so it doen'nt inhibit the normal nocturnal routine much

Mkelly · 08-27-2003, 01:58 PM

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...Code=moonlight

Ordering these today. I'm totally redoing my lighting as its not really bright enough.

You could also look at this.....
http://www.lightworld.com/MERCHANT2/...tegory_Code=LL

Seems like an interesting retrofit possiability since it's an edison base socket.

Madmike · 08-27-2003, 04:40 PM

bought the led's at superbrightled.com and paid $1.30 each...the part # is RL5-B5515. they are extremely bright, like those led flashlights so you just wire in a resistor on each led and a potentiometer so you can adjust the brightness to your level, or every few days to give your tank a true moon cycle.

I just drilled and mounte the 2 leds into my metal halide reflector and it works well over my 45 gallon hex, you could use as many as you want mounted over a longer tank.

All of the wiring and such is discussed on RC's board under the DIY section...it is a very informative thread by DJ88, i have to give him complete credit, he is the DIY King!...also check out his DIY calcium reactor, i just built one and it rocks!!!

PS to any mods...if posting about another board is inappropriate please feel free to edit

later
Mike

Madmike · 08-27-2003, 04:41 PM

PPS... The picture doesn't do the true effect justice...It looks way cooler in person. Even my wife thinks so

Mike