are blacklights bad?

[dbennett78]

Are blacklights bad for corals or what? I was thinking of putting one over my tank in addition to what I have now just because it makes the corals glow when its on. I probably wouldnt use it all the time just like when I have company over so the tank looks great.

 

[jonthefb]

why not just get an actinic light instead?????the bulb allows the corals to flouresce while also stimulating zooxanthellae!
good luck
jon

 

[bdhough]

I have heard things about black lights and can't remember much. Try doing a search on it. Im sure its been touched plenty of times. From what i can remember its the wrong spectrum of light and not strong enough to do anything for the corals anyways.....
EDIT: it won't hurt them though so by all means use it to impress the friends

 

[thomas712]

I really don't think they would do anything to your tank. They might add a little light but would hardly go through the water very well. There would be no benifit to the corals. I'm not even sure of the watts or spectrum of such bulbs though so I'm just guessing.
Now the actinic suggestion gets a thumbs up
Thomas

 

[jonthefb]

i agree! i think that the corals would flouresce more under an actinic light rather than a black light!
good luck
jon

 

[dbennett78]

I would like to add an actnic but there is no room over my 10 gallon for anything else with the light that is on there now, and there is no place to put in an actnic bulb in the ballast I have now because it is the coralife 96 watt powerquad.

 

[bdhough]

You already have actinics. The power quad is basically dual 50/50 bulbs in one bulb. If all you want to do is see the corals glow then you can use the blacklight. It neither hurts nor benefits anything just runs your power bill

 

[jedininja]

I remember this issue had been brought up about a year ago. From what I remeber, someone was saying that black light's spectrum s mostly UV. It might not hurt the corals, but it will harm the micro organisms in the tank much like a UV filter does.

 

[j21kickster]

the only thing black lights are cool for is for night lighting- as stated before it dosent seem to penetrate but somr of the corals light up like a supernove- it is pretty cool- and if your water is the slightst bit cloudy- when you turn the light on, if is almost impossible to see through- you should try it just to see how it looks-