# Would a black light work in my tank?



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I am just wondering what kind of lights can be used in my tank.
Also would a black light work, or some type of a glow light?


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

I've read that blacklights will stress out fish, I don't know how much truth there is to that.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

i used a black light once for one of my tanks cuz i had a little neon gravel mixed with black and neon decor so it looked good but i only turned it on at night before I went to sleep and had a normal light during the day


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## Betta1 (Jan 5, 2007)

I had a 48" black light fixture on my 75g that I turned on at night and it did virtualy nothing, the top few inches of my tank were an awsome grey but thats about it.

And on the stressing fish out note, thats a definate possibility, as soon as I started using that light at night is when I started having problems in my tank so it could be due in part to the light or perhaps due only to other factors.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Knight~Ryder said:


> I am just wondering what kind of lights can be used in my tank.
> Also would a black light work, or some type of a glow light?


KR:

Don't think that I would do that one.

Plants perceive significantly more and fish slightly more portions of energy frequencies in nature as well as in our aquariums than the visible light which we perceive. (Hence the minor increase in plant health and growth when a small ratio of 7100K light is induced into an aquarium ecosystem.)

Black light is ultraviolet light with a peak emission at approximately 375nm and a very sharp distribution curve ranging from approximately 360nm to approximately 390nm. For comparison the Actinic 03 lamps employed in the SW world emit light which has a typical wavelength of 420nm.

The distribution of wavelengths of sunlight at the Earth's surface has a broad crest between 480nm and 750nm and decreases hyperbolically, but not uniformly, to approximately 2500nm.

Only approximately 2% of sunlight exists at the Earth's surface in the wavelength range of black light.

The moral of the story here is that the black light which you are inquisitive of is virtually nonexistent in nature and hence my opening sentence.

TR

BTW: Also please note that the shorter the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation the greater the energy of the radiation.


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