Black lights

[andygar]

In my search for inexpensive lighting, I found comercially made black lights in 48" fuorescent tubes for a few bucks. Someone once said that black light has a color temp of about 20,000K. Would that work in place of actinics, mixed with some 6,500K lights? I know that the UV is an issue, but these so-called "blacklight - blue" have a UV filter built in so that it's safe for humans to be exposed to them for long periods of time.
Anyone had any experience with this?

 

[zafirablanca]

Andy,
I do not know about specific lights that you have found, but I do have experience purchasing black lights for commercial use. I used to buy them for biotech production and plant pathogen research facilities that I worked for.
These usually would be used for germicidal purposes, such as when finished working with a particular bacteria or fungus, we would leave the area and switch on a light with a black-light bulb to 'sterilize'/ 'sanitize' the area. We also would do this prior to working with the microbes to decontaminate the area of normal bacteria/ fungi in the air, etc. to protect the purity of our specific 'bug'
Also, I have used them as 'grow lights' in combination with cool white bulbs to stimulate plant pathogenic fungi to sporulate in culture. Other scientists have used them to purposely mutate known bacteria types to try and create new and novel types.
This experience leads me to think that they are probably not a good choice to use in your home or for pet/ animal/ hobby purposes. Definitely check into it more.
Good Luck.
-Christine

 

[entice59]

Originally posted by Kipass4130
I dont remember who it was or what their reasoning, but someone else asked about black lights and there was a huge response of NO. DO a search for black lights for more info.
Heh that person was me... DONT DO IT!!!!! it screws everything up
some guys told me that it might blind fish and kill some coral... thats enough to make me stay away from using black lights