Day Time - Night Time Lighting

Thanx sumpin!

With My fish, Blue light is the best..for yours? who knows? experiment. Some fish like blue..while others like Red. My fish like Blue. I also have barbs and like the elephant nose....does not care for the red light.

As for the debate about red penetrating further then blue.. check these links out..:

http://www.notcatfish.com/equipment/lighting.htm
says "In seawater, even at shallow depths (<5 metres), red light quickly becomes indistinguishable and at greater depths blue-green light prevails. ... still maintain the ability to see blue wavelengths better than red."

I will check out more websites in an hour...Dinner time!
 
I didn't feel like reading all those long posts because I'm too lazy now. I just wanted to say that I am looking for a 100w bulb because I plan on having plants and the bulb I have now is only 40 watts. Maybe, I will get the old lid I have in my attic and put it behind the light I have now so that it's like a wake up for the fish before the big blast of light. That lid is Incandescent(sp) so it has 2 sockets where I can plug in regular bulbs.
 
Okay then... so,

One thing to keep in mind is that water, in very deep layers, is blue-green. (hence why the ocean is blue; that, combined with other chemicals and compounds that are in seawater...). Blue light degrades faster than red light does due to the shorter wavelength, it just has a lot more energy to travel between what's in our "visible" light spectrum and what isn't. Red light only has one color to "jump" from being something we can see to something we can't see. Blue has at least 5 colors to travel through before it is slowed into an invisible light wave at the infrared level.

Logic would dictate that since water is blue anyhow, the blue light will penetrate the layers easier even though the red light wave is more stable because the water reflects blue light, bouncing it further into the depths.... so, I respectfully retract my statement. I have learned something new today. Thanks for arguing with me, Jamison. I'm always on a quest to learn new things and come to new conclusions. Anything that broadens my horizons is welcome.


I will hold on to one thing though. If light were traveling through a liquid that was naturally, say, orange or red, (take liquid sulfur for example), the red light wave would travel much further than the blue one. Also, if the liquid were a color that falls in between these two, say, something yellow (such as uric acid), or is truly clear, (sorry, nothing comes to mind) then the red light would penetrate further than the blue one.
 
PBQ,
As ever, really interesting input. Like Jameson, I'm a little confused by the red blue penetration thing. Reefers use very blue lights to mimic the lighting at depth. Its not red down there. What you have to say about red makes perfectly good sense though -- here in sunny NYC I get nightly reminders of the carrying power of a 14" bass speaker. :mad: Good analogy.

My point about the red and blue for nightlights though was this: if the daytime fish can see either, and the nocturnal fish can see neither (mostly rods, looking at intensity not color) then does it matter at all which color we choose?

As for the stress, my moonlight is nominally less than 20% of the wattage of the main lights and its masked back to boot. Probably less than 10%. I do find it a bit too bright for a 30g and may have to look into the LEDs. The light also acts more as a spot than anything else, so there are always dark areas for fish to shelter in and all lights are off for at least 8 hours at night.
 
Nj Devil: try a timed desk lamp... to turn on before the main lights. a suggestion made to me on a prior post. Better yet.. Have a few LEDs in the tank so it wont go from pitch black to bright light.

Carp: I am currently using the miracle BEAM system. It costs 21.95. Basically, it has a LED that you would place on the glass top shining down (more natural). It does have a spot light effect on whatever you shine it down on, but it does create alot of shadows and "dark areas". It mainly lights up a small area.You can also point it at the back of your tank "dimming the light". I have 2 on my 60 gallon tank. So..there are PLENTY of Dark areas...


I keep my LEDS on 24 hours a day..
 
Originally posted by carpguy


My point about the red and blue for nightlights though was this: if the daytime fish can see either, and the nocturnal fish can see neither (mostly rods, looking at intensity not color) then does it matter at all which color we choose?

As for the stress, my moonlight is nominally less than 20% of the wattage of the main lights and its masked back to boot. Probably less than 10%. I do find it a bit too bright for a 30g and may have to look into the LEDs. The light also acts more as a spot than anything else, so there are always dark areas for fish to shelter in and all lights are off for at least 8 hours at night.
Click to expand...

I've got the LED's in my tank as well, mainly for my aesthetics. I don't think it's a big deal which color you use, just whichever seems to work better for your situation. The blue lights are brighter to me than the other colors, in fact, they burn my eyes, so I have them pointed where they are not in my direct line of sight (however, I have distorted color vision, so I am not sure whether they actually are a higher-output light or not... my vision is far from normal, so your experience may vary).

The only thing you can do is try it and see if you like the results and if your fish like the results....
 
Ah the ol' cross post. :D

PBQ, I still can't reconcile the longer wavelength thing with the blue penetration thing. I know its blue down there, but what you had to say about the wavelengths made sense to me, even if it seems to run counter to it. Blue has only one color to "jump" before it goes ultraviolet, but I'm not really sure why that's important.

Just an interesting side note on color: we're best at distinguishing colors in the blue-green section of the spectrum. For some reason our eyes make the finest distinctions in that area.
 
NJ D, LEDs are Light Emitting Diodes -- those solid pieces of plastic that give off light on stereos and what not. I think they finally can make them all across the spectrum, but the older ones were always red.

With that incandescent hood you were talking about, you could use some 11w screw in flourescents -- the heat output would be much lower. If I ever do a large tank I'll definitely install some twilights as well, but for know the moonlight does double duty.
 
Devils winning?


Anyway, its a relatively new lighting concept not only in the aquarium industry...but in our everyday lives. They Use VERY little energy and provides an intense light with NO HEAT emessions! Now colors are available in different colors. For night lights, a few wont add a whole bunch of light, but will add just enough to view. They are about 1/4 inch "bulbs". Someone is actually trying to create a Tank light with a few hundred of these bulbs To create a "NO HEAT" Lighting system.


anyway..they cost 7.99 per light at walmart (6.99 at bigalsonline) and the system itself is 21.95

7.99 is for per lighting UNIT. The bulb itself is extremely cheap
 
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