Uv Lighting

[acula]

I'm currently building a tank and I'm thinking of using a UV strip light.

Will fish be OK with this?

 

[three-fingers]

What type of UV striplight? Like the 'blacklight' kind, or reptile tubes?

 

[acula]

Blacklight

 

[three-fingers]

I see no real issues, blacklights are just UVA which isnt very harmful at all. Just think about what the fish would receive in nature, the sun outputs far more UVA than a single tube would, so unless your keeping things that would never be close to the surface or in bright water for extended periods of time (like a lot of catfish), it shoudlent be an issue.

I've seen many people use blacklights on reef tanks to get corals to fluoresce - at the lfs I work at there's fish in a shallow (30cm deep) coral tank with twin UV tubes and they are showing no visable negative effects after at least 6 months.

I wouldent use it as a night light though (though some do), I'm not sure how that would affect the fishes sleeping patterns, or if it could have any damaging effect on the eyes if used 24/7 (I said it wasnt very harmful, but the eyes can be sensative, and UVA is realativly high energy radiation compared to visible light).

 

[Colin_T]

get an actinic light rather than a black light. They show off colours just as well but are much safer, usually cheaper too.

 

[acula]

yes im happy to use ( and would prefere if i could find) some sort of underwater LED lighting, if anyone knows of any please let me know

 

[adam98150]

Reptile tubes emit a small amount of radiation, exposure over long periods of time could very well be damaging to the fish, unless it is kept at least six inches from your aquatic life. For example, if it is suspended over the tank.