Blacklight Aquarium

[cohazard]

I just setup an Eclipse system 6 a couple of weeks ago with a couple of feeder goldfish to cycle it. For the first time since my first 10 gallon goldfish tank when I was 7, I used glow in the dark plants as the focus of the decor and a neon cave. I decided to make this little nostalgic setup as amazing as possible by buying a blacklight for the tank. The result is INCREDIBLE, it looks great ! But I didn't stop to think about the lights effect on fish. I don't plan on keeping the blacklight on there at all times, but I wan't to make sure it's not harming the fish.

Does anybody know if the blacklight is harmful to fish?

If it isn't, can you think of any small fish that might "glow"?

I had thought about putting neon tetras in the tank after the goldfish cycle it and return to the fish store. Let me know what you think.

(one last thing, this is my first post; looking forward to sharing aqua knowledge)

 

[daveedka]

Welcome to the forum, I have used black lights, but can't really say if they have a long term effect on fish (I never saw any ill effects, but didn't do any long term testing). I seriously doubt it though. if you don't have live plants, it would seem to be a good idea if you like the look.

 

[OldVamp]

Black light didn't work for my tanks, I have well water and the water itself kind of glowed makeing it impossible to see the fish.

 

[ryan]

It can damage fishes eyes, or so i have been told.

I can tell you though, from some experiments I did one day at work when I was bored, that of all the species we carry (including neons) none of them glow; EXCEPT dyed glass tetras (the ones with the two strips of injected color) and "glow fish" those new genetically altered $5 a piece zebra danios.

ryan

 

[TKOS]

Black lights throw out a lot of UV light and can easily burn eyes, at least in humans if they are looked at for too long. I would avoid them if I were you.

 

[cohazard]

Thanks for your replies. I've been observing the feeders and so far they still find food just fine, which makes me think their vision hasn't been affected (or at least not yet). I'll keep running the system and see what happens. I wish I could get some of those zebras but they're still not allowed in Cali.

Thanks for the welcome daveedka.

 

[happychem]

There is a lot of UV coming off blacklights, that's why things glow (fluoresce), like shirts washed with phosphates.

Glass absorbs in the UV, so a some of it will be cut out in the canopy. However, it's unlikely that even most of it is absorbed in the small diameter.

In the long term, this won't be good for your fish, but hey, algea should be easy.

 

[cohazard]

Well since it's an eclipse system six, I don't think a silver dollar would be wise, but a head and tail light tetra might work, even a neon tetra. It's day three of using the blacklight for about 6 hours at night, and the goldfish's vision still doesn't seem to be affected. I'm going to try an experiment, and use the blacklight as the only source of light (the room light will get turned on once in a while) and we'll see what happens. When the experiment is over this will go down in aquarium enthusiast knowledge books forever! Or maybe a small blurb in aquariums for dummies.

When the cycle is over in about two weeks, I'll take the goldfish back to the pet store (or give them to a friend ), adjust the water chemistry and try some other tropical fish. Here's to pioneering the semi-unknown, oh, and thanks again for the warm welcome.

 

[TKOS]

Don't forget that it may not be totally apparent to you that the fish are having eye problems. Quite often fish can survive quite well with bad eyes. What the UV will do is essentially give them a sunburnt eye which is painful but usable. Not my fish but I wouldn't bother with it.

 

[cohazard]

Thanks for your concerns TKOS, I do feel guilty subjecting these creatures to experimentation that could possibly harm them. You make a good point regarding the fish's ability to find food even with poor or damaged eyesight; that is my reason for using only the blacklight as a source of light; so that concrete observations can be made. Depending on the outcome, we will be able to spread our knowledge with proof that blacklights do or don't affect fish's eyesight. Fish aren't always looking at the light, maybe only when they feed (otherwise fish with hallides on their tanks would go blind very quickly).

On an interesting side note, the official GloFish website recommends using blacklights to dramatically display the flourescence of their fish. I will write them an e-mail asking about their findings regarding the affect of blacklights on their fish's vision and will post their reply in this thread.