Bang Guy's Latest Experiment

[cincyreefer]

Are you able to measure par?

 

[bang guy]

Nope. Those things are very expensive.

 

[dskidmore]

Sounds good, although if everything lives, we'll have to wait a long time for the results. I look forward to it.
What is the supposed benifit of using the black lights? Do the corals glow well under that light?

 

[montidanae]

Originally posted by Kip4130
i wanna buy one for work ... but cant find a place that sells them (that or i really dont know what i am looking for)
a few places on ---- have them for about $50

 

[bang guy]

Kip - Look up the "Quantum Light Meter" by Spectrum. It will work for your application.
Since UVA light is 320 - 400nm I don't think it's going to register on the typical PAR meter. I don't know if it would show on any PAR meter. Anyone know??

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by MontiDanae
a few places on ---- have them for about $50
That would be a big surprise to me. What did you search on?

 

[montidanae]

i cant remember, i ask a while ago, and someone gave me a link....

 

[salty cheese]

Monti are you thinking about a Lux meter?

 

[kistheeze]

I would make the following suggestion - use 2 tanks both plumbed into your main system (to rule out water quality issues) plumb them the same (circulation issues) place corals of roughly same size, same type, same postion.
Only diff - btwn the 2 tanks - 1 with Blacklight, 1 with 10k (or 6500)
Then you could have a great way to make more accurate comparisons.
Sounds like fun.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by DSkidmore
What is the supposed benifit of using the black lights? Do the corals glow well under that light?
A few really do glow. The Candy Cane looks plugged in but it's a wierd color.
I don't know why people ask, I just know they are always told "no".

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
The water will constantly be replaced with water from my Lagoon so that's not going to be a variable.

 

[squidd]

So, Bang...
Can I put a "Strobe" light over My Nano...???
If I run it 24/7 the on/off cycle would be about 12 hrs light per day...:thinking:
Or maybe I should run it with the Black lights...:thinking:
Kind of reminds me of my bedroom 30 years or so ago...:yes:

 

[stuckinfla]

The colors of the corals are indeed intense. But what is the purpose of ppl wanting to use these - save $ on actinics? Totally different effect from what I see so far. I will follow this "experiment" with interest, and look foward to your paper in Aquarium Monthly.
:yes:

 

[dallassvt]

I put a blacklite over my freshwater tank a couple of years ago because it brought out the cool colors of the artificial boats and plastic flowers i had in there.. EVERY FISH AND ONE EEL WAS DEAD IN ABOUT THREE DAYS!!
but have never tried it on a reef tank... Good Luck!
:thinking:

 

[reefraff]

I've got an old Jimi Hendrix blacklight poster that would make a cool background for the tank
I have switched to a couple of 40 watt NO submersible lamps for actinic and have noticed that they make the greens in my trumpet, favia and frogspawn look more like a lime green, is that the color you are seeing in the candy cane with a blacklight?

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by MontiDanae
saltwater looks very cloudy under the black lgiths
Thanks for mentioning this. I've come to the same conclusion. Now I need to find out why. I'm guessing either Phosphate or phytoplankton.
Great, more work to do.

 

[007]

you need a control set up as kistheeze mentioned . . .

 

[oscardeuce]

I'd do it with 3 tanks:
Control normal lighting
experimental Black light only
experimental Normal lighting with BL
This way you get to see all the variables and control for them.

 

[dskidmore]

He's already said that the paralell setups were too expensive. The lagoon water is stable, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with doing the tests sequentially.

 

[oscardeuce]

I can't argu there, that lagoon is awsome, and would be stable enough to do the sequential test, and would not introduce many other variables