Just a short question. Are these Blue and Pink flourescent lights any good? What are they really good for? They are the lamps sold in all my LFSs.
Regards,
Mike D.
Regards,
Mike D.
Last edited:
Blue and Pink Aquarium Lights
- Thread starter mokmu
- Start date
Blue lamps are important in tanks with coral because in the ocean, this color light is one of the only colors that can make it through a lot of water. Pink is probably a night light, because fish cannot see many colors of the red spectrum, so it would be used solely for human appeal.
I hope this helped
Aaron
I hope this helped
Aaron
Hmmm. Fish cannot see much red spectrum. Without starting another 'fish pain' type thread, I wonder how we know that? How do you test whether fish can or cannot see a color? I am not disagreeing at all - I do not doubt it is true. But it is curious how these little factoids tickle my brain....
We already had a pain-ful thread on this a few months back. I learned quite a bit during that one too. 
Some fish see color well, others not so well. They can figure this out, in part, by looking at the ratios of rods (light/dark) and cones (color) on their retinas. You can also do experiments like lighting a tank with red light and seeing if the fish notice (some do, some don't). It mostly depends on what type of fish it is. Surface feeding insectivores can generally see color, deeper water or nocturnal fish have less need for it and put more retinal real estate towards guaging lights and darks.
Full-strength blue lights are generally for reef tanks to mimic natural sunlight light as it appears 20 or 30 feet down. Some people use low powered blue lights as moonlights. Folks with shy nocturnal fish sometimes use the reds so that they can watch the fish at night.
Some fish see color well, others not so well. They can figure this out, in part, by looking at the ratios of rods (light/dark) and cones (color) on their retinas. You can also do experiments like lighting a tank with red light and seeing if the fish notice (some do, some don't). It mostly depends on what type of fish it is. Surface feeding insectivores can generally see color, deeper water or nocturnal fish have less need for it and put more retinal real estate towards guaging lights and darks.
Full-strength blue lights are generally for reef tanks to mimic natural sunlight light as it appears 20 or 30 feet down. Some people use low powered blue lights as moonlights. Folks with shy nocturnal fish sometimes use the reds so that they can watch the fish at night.