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This may be ridiculous, but I was wondering if a blacklight could be beneficial to the aquarium, or if it would hurt it? It's more of a curiousity driven question, but if its a good idea, i might as well try it.

I'm not sure why you would add one, unless you want to see the tank at night. In that case get a moon light, or what I did, a blue rope light.

Dan


Dan

I went down that road a while back in my 10g FW tank...

I did some research AFTER I did it though...here's what I found out by research and/or experience-

1. Blacklights basically have a different light spectrum than most bulbs (I can't remember what range it was tho).

2. Blacklights look retarded in fish tanks because you can see all of the crap floating 'round in the water (air bubbles and stuff included), but none of the fish or anything glows other than the Glo-Fish danios (might be different with marine stuff though...not sure...).

3. Blacklights do a LOT more harm than good for plants. My duckweed turned funny colors and got crispy, my hornwort grew little funky branches all over, and my anacharis stopped growing altogether and never recovered.

4. The fish HATE the blacklight! Their eyes can't take it and it impairs their vision. They go NUTS and try and hide under stuff to get away from the light (atleast mine did )!

It might be different in SW tanks, but I doubt it...I'd personally stay away from blacklights in tanks!

I only ask because actinic light is beneficial for growth of algea and coral... although I'm not doing the coral, I figured actinic light is still good for the live rock and everything. So I was thinking maybe it could be helpful.

Actinic light and blacklight are totally different things. If you want to use actinic then go for it. It will make colors of coraline stand out more, and will do the same with your fish..





[hr width='40%']Your brown hair and your beautiful eyes
Just send chills down my spine.
The sight of you makes me weak.
My hands shiver, and I cannot speak.

If memory serves, 'blacklight' is a special kind of light that principally generates ultraviolet (UV) light, with virtually no visible light output. Sure you want to be irradiating your prized aquarium denizens with large doses of UV? Remember, UV is used in UV sterilisers for the specific purpose of killing certain pathogenic organisms. It will destroy single celled life forms quickly, and will probably have a less than delightful effect upon the irradiated tissues of multi-cellular organisms. Remember, UV causes malignant melanoma in humans when exposure levels are too high. Sure you want to expose your fish and prized inverts to a level of UV that would cause cancer in humans?

Something to think about ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002