Adding a black light?

[ShAgMaN]

This is probably a bad idea, but I’m pondering adding a black light to my lighting (6ft. 150 gal. tank). Thing is, I bought a 72" moonlight strip months ago for night, but it’s really weak. I want to be able to see the neon coloration of my coral, and my LED setup does not allow switching to just actinic. Adding more blue LEDs separately is going to be costly, so I’m looking to avoid that if possible.

So I guess what I’m asking is if this will disturb the reef? I would be fine in keeping it to a minimum, maybe the last hour or two at night, but I want to see the colors.

[ErikH]

Get some T5s for your actinic supplementation. :)

[ShAgMaN]

Get some T5s for your actinic supplementation. :)

Ya, might just do that - no shimmer, but black lights wouldn’t give that effect either.

[marcus_the_clownfish]

ive heard that blacklights will cause blindness in fish after a couple of months

[ShAgMaN]

Ya, I'm pretty much thinking this is a lame *** idea. My whole living room would prolly glow like a club. :rolleyes:

T5 or trying another moonlight strip would probably be best.

[Roo&Lis]

I momentarily used a black light and got some pretty sweet glow out of the corals. I didn't keep them on because of the rif raf about negative effects. Really is it bad? Is there proof or is it all hear say?

[rockmp]

you could also use the powerbrite LED's....

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+18485&pcatid=18485

[moe]

I remember an article bout the black light but can't remember which mag it was. I was thinking bout the same for my tank. However decided on t-10. I also want the florescence look for the night. still haven't rule out the black light yet but I look more into it and let u know.

[hobogato]

when i first started in this hobby, i added a NO fluorescent black light that i had on for an hour or two every night. within a week, all of the corals (gsp and other softies) refused to open whether or not the light was on. after a couple of weeks without it, most of them recovered. dont know for sure if it was the black light, but it sure seemed like it.

[Squiers007]

Black lights give off a lot of UV radiation that is very bad for any photosynthetic organisms. Whatever you do, do not put black lights on your tank unless you want to kill your corals. Like others said above try the powerbrite LED, they seem to give off a really strong blue light which will make your flourescent colors pop more.

[moe]

Black lights give off a lot of UV radiation that is very bad for any photosynthetic organisms. Whatever you do, do not put black lights on your tank unless you want to kill your corals. Like others said above try the powerbrite LED, they seem to give off a really strong blue light which will make your flourescent colors pop more.

good to know thanks for that info. i knew about the UV but i didn't know how it would affect the the corals. And now I know so i won't be putting one up. :thumbs_up:

[cbianco]

when i first started in this hobby, i added a NO fluorescent black light that i had on for an hour or two every night. within a week, all of the corals (gsp and other softies) refused to open whether or not the light was on. after a couple of weeks without it, most of them recovered. dont know for sure if it was the black light, but it sure seemed like it.

Did the coral skeletons glow Ace? LOL! :rofl:

Skip the black light and get some actinic supplementation. :thumbs_up:

Christopher

[Mr Cob]

you could also use the powerbrite LED's....

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+18485&pcatid=18485

I use the BLUE several hours before lights on and several hours after lights off.

LOVE THEM! Colors pop like you would not believe!

[jlh81]

I would like to see what it looks like with the black light but i dont think i would do it to my tank