Day Time - Night Time Lighting

Here is an example:

http://www.miraclebeam.com/hilite.asp

This tells you everything about them and what they look like. I would personally point it "down" because it does look more natural. My Leds are actually shining through the glass top and into the water. Looks really neat when I position each light on my 3 tanks at the correct angle where the position of the moon would be shinning down on each tank the same... :)


BTW: they are like the LEDS from your remote controls or stereo BUT HIGHER TECH and BIGGER!!!
 
Originally posted by carpguy
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.
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Point one: blue light would have to resonate FASTER to head up to the ultraviolet spectrum.

Point two: the finest distinction might be in the blue end of the spectrum, the easiest color for the human eye to see is hunter's safety orange (which is why they use that color...). Another technical tidbit....
 
This lighting arrangement cost about $175 to construct. ($125 for AH Supply, $25 for 3 timers, $25 for hardwood)http://home.pacbell.net/aljen/18tallcomposite082901.jpg I have a 13w red bulb that runs 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. I have a 13w 5000k bulb that runs about 12 hours. I also have a 36w 6500k bulb that runs about 6 hours in the middle of the day.

IMO, the sunrise/sunset effect is NOT worth the effort.
 
Jamison, the devils won 5-2. They scored 18 goals in 4 games. I hope the scoring keeps comming.

I will put that incandescent hood on a table next to the tank and have it on a timer so that it goes on about 20-30 minutes the main bulb goes on.
 
That was an interesting article JB. For our purposes, here is the relevant info:

"Water absorbs longer wavelength light to a greater degree than short wavelength light. In other words, the first wavelengths absorbed are infrared and red wavelengths…(then infrared and ultraviolet, other colors) As one approaches 30 meters or 100 feet, the only light that remains is between 450 nm and 550 nm (blue and green)… Note that both blue and green remain and that both shorter and longer wavelength light is attenuated… It is an inaccurate generalization to suggest that only blue remains. It is more accurate to describe the light field underwater as lacking red, rather than consisting only of blue… Even at 30 feet, most of the visible spectrum is still present, with only red light over 600 nm significantly attenuated."

As far as the moonlights go, I'm still wondering: 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?

Aljen,
Great looking tank! :D Very simple and elegant. What is that outcropping? Rock, cork, synthetic?

I don't want to keep the lights on too long (algae), so the moonlight is really for my own viewing pleasure and worth the effort. Cheaper than getting better blinds for the windows. The twilight is just a simple adjustment from there: I don't think I'd bother with a separate twilight rig.
 
Originally posted by carpguy

I don't want to keep the lights on too long (algae), so the moonlight is really for my own viewing pleasure and worth the effort. Cheaper than getting better blinds for the windows. The twilight is just a simple adjustment from there: I don't think I'd bother with a separate twilight rig.
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I know with LEDS, there is not enough light present to build up algae of any type. Having the moonlight on when the main lights come on does not stress out the fish from the change from pitch black to bright daylight. Of course, if you have sunlight entering the room, I think that should be fine. I persoanlly do not...so the moonlight helps my fish adjust..
 
pinballqueen and JBW - I think you need to go back and review Doppler Effect and red shifts - they deal with the speed of the light source relative to us, not with any modulation of the light in the intervening distance. Unless your light fixture is approaching or receding at relativistic speed, its output color is not stretched or shrunk with red or blue shift This is not the effect significant in water penetration of various colors of light.

In water, red penetrates less than blue (as carpguy detailed), not the opposite case as has been held in this thread. If it were as presented here, the seas would appear red, not blue.

Deepwater fish and nocturnal fish perceive red light poorly or not at all, so it is effective for night viewing of such so long as it is really red and not too intense. Blue light can be a simulation of moonlight, again with the same intensity stipulation, so may well be accepted as "normal" by nocturnal fish also. IME & IMHO, intensity is more important than which of the two colors is chosen. But for night viewing I use red, very low wattage or very heavy filters.
 
Jamison, I just realized your name is "Jamison" not "Jameson" -- I must hang out in Irish bars too often… :D

The tank is in a west facing room, so the morning light is pretty modest but I like to keep the main lights more or less on a daytime schedule: 8:30 to 8:30. They are the algae concern. In a darker room I might slide the day around to 11 and 11. The moonlight isn't an algae concern and stays on until 12:30 am. I can check out the tank at night… Back on at 8am, back off at 9am to help smooth out the daylight transition. Its in the bedroom: I find the sudden lights on at 8:30 a little jarring myself.

As RTR just mentioned, I try to keep the intensity down on this: the 13w by itself (without a reflector) is still too bright IMO for a 30g. I have it masked with a few strips of dark paper under it and will probably try to find an acetate filter for it at some point.

And I think by now we have pretty much covered this subject in depth and in detail…
 
Originally posted by RTR


In water, red penetrates less than blue (as carpguy detailed), not the opposite case as has been held in this thread. If it were as presented here, the seas would appear red, not blue.
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Originally posted by pinballqueen
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.
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Yes, sir. If you will notice in a previous post, I retracted my opinions upon further consideration of the specifics of this discussion. I had been arguing from the standpoint of wave reactions through a colorless substance. I had forgotten that water is not entirely colorless, but is in fact blue.
 
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