blacklight-safe for aquarium moonlight?

Easydoesit

AC Members
Mar 17, 2008
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i bought a blacklight for my aquarium intending to use it for moonlight. i only tried it last night, and thought it looked really good. it didnt make the water purple, it just had a nice very dim natural kind of shadowy light to it... like real moonlight. i could only see the silhouette of my O as he was swimming. my oscar also has no white on him though.. a white fish or fish with bright white stripes or whatever on him may look really neat, but idk if itd bug the fish.
if you were wondering about blacklight, it does look good, like i just said. it still made my white shirt glow when i went to bed(my bed is right next to my fish tank). in my tank i have black substrate and a black background though, as well as fake plants positioned to look like theyre floating at the top of the water, right under the light to diffuse my daylight more and have more shady areas for my Oscar.
i have a few questions and concerns after reading the label on the blacklight package and researching a tiny bit.

on the blacklight package it says "...can cause sunburn with prolonged exposure.."
i thought that was interesting so i looked it up.
i found out that prolonged exposure to the UV light in blacklights can cause damage if you dont wear eye protection, like in a tanning bed.
considering a fishes eyes are always open, idk if thats good. idk if its good for their skin either, but naturally fish in sunny streams and whatnot most likely get more sun exposure than ppl bc of water's reflective qualities.. so is a fishs skin less sensitive to UV rays? my O likes dim lighting though..
UV rays also sterilize, as many of you know. but im assuming its a much stronger type of UV light than a blacklight that people get for their aquariums to sterilize the water or whatever.

idk if these blacklights that i got at walmart are true "black light"- which is light in the near UV range, just short of visible light"

does anyone know any more about this? is it safe to use for an aquariums moonlight?
 
ps- flourescent blacklight bulbs emit longer UV wavelengths, whereas tanning lamps emit shorter UV wavelengths.
 
I doubt it will harm the fish, not enough wattage in a blacklight flourescent tube.
 
I have a blacklight that goes right on my ceiling over my bed for 2 weeks now, and I haven't had sunburn. Plus, I don't think 17 watts in a 18 inch blacklight would hurt you or a fish. (Although I have been looking more tan than before the blacklight :))
 
yeah, i didnt think it would do anything, but the sunburn bit kind of creeped me out. my blacklight is 15 watts i think, so i think i should be okay. i only use it when im not feeling too lazy to take the fixture off, take the diffuser off, and switch the bulbs.(notice i make it sound like more work than it is)
lmao is the blacklight rly making you more tan?
 
The blacklight is really making me tanner! Since about the start of april, I've gotten kind of tanner. But since I sleep in my covers really tight, only my face and arms have been tanned, so this means I can't wear shorts until summer, or I need to sleep without covers. :eek3:

Sorry for hijacking this thread, back to blacklights and fish. (But I guess the situation has already been solved. In that case, what am I doing here? Who are you? Who am I? :confused: Where's Nemo?! )
 
lmao!
wow, thats so weird that the blacklight tanned you. psh screw tanning in a tanning bed! lol, jk
anyways, the situation is resolved as of now, but if anyone has any more information.. ill be waiting:)
 
Blacklight does not look bright to us because our eyes, people's, do not see that wavelength very well at all. Who knows what a blacklight looks like to a fish or most other animals. There are lots of animals that see into the infrared much more than we can so I would not be surprised if they can also see into the ultraviolet further. What that would mean is that when you think of the light as almost not there, the fish would see it as quite bright. Lights on all the time is not a good thing for your fish so the question becomes do they see this as having the lights on. Another concern would be algae. We know that plants can use almost all light except the green. That is why they look green, they reflect that color. You may be promoting an algae bloom.
 
yeah, good points. in this tank i have no plants though. but anyways.. ive read somewhere in the marine section of people who have infrared lights that they take out at night to see all the things in their tank without them running away, so id assume that they cant detect it.
also, when i had the bright light on, my O would sulk or just sit at the bottom and as soon as i got the blacklight on he was up and swimming about.
you dont even notice that the blacklight lights the tank a tiny bit until your eyes adjust to the darkness.. i thought it was too dark for moonlight at first till i waited a few minutes.
but infrared light is at the opposite end of the spectrum..
 
do you have the blacklight on all night or is it just on for a while after the main lights go out?

i dont use blacklight myself but i do use blue cold cathode's to give the same effect.
i have these on a timer so they come on 1 hour before the final day lights go off and stay on for 2 hours after.

it does let you see so much more of your nocturnal or sensitive fish
 
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