Blacklight Photography (with pictures)

[PootyTang]

Hey everyone!
So I've wanted to do this for quite some time, but never got around to it until tonight. These pictures are of my oc. clown hosting in my Aussie elegance. All the tank lights are off, and I'm holding a small pocket UV light. The effect on the coral is amazing, though unfortunately it makes the fish look a little fuzzy and also makes it tough to get the right exposure without loosing definition on the fish. Anyway, these are my first tries, I will definitely go back and try again. Enjoy!

 

[Dweezil]

Wow, those are beautiful. Really nice thanks for sharing.

 

[redsea reefer]

those are cool pics.

 

[Rhodes19]

Sweeeeet!!!!! That is so cool. What kind of UV light did you use?

 

[PootyTang]

its actually from an invisible ink pen, the ink glows under a UV LED and so I just shone the LED in the tank
I have some more pictures I'll post today

 

[PootyTang]

Newest pics:

Metallic Green Trumpet coral

Green Brain

RBTA

Different Brain and Trumpets

Wellsophylia

Metallic Green Plate

These were taken after lights out, so alot of the corals are retracted

 

[PootyTang]

Does anyone know if keeping a black-light LED like this permanently over the tank would be harmful to the fish?

 

[PootyTang]

nobody has any idea?

 

[Clownfish518]

UV light is bad for both fish and corals. Whether the one diode has enough power to cause harm I don't know.

 

[sambrinar]

my light has blue LED lights that make the tank glow like that, you might wanna try that and see rather than using a blacklight (UV)

 

[PootyTang]

I'm going to take a look and see if I can order one of the blue moonlights from BigAl's

 

[PootyTang]

I'm beginning to wonder if LEDs can actually even be techincally "black lights" that emit UV, because everything I can find is LEDs that simulate black light, so maybe its not even a problem

 

[molsen187]

i've heard that having a black light over the tank can lead to serious algae issues.

 

[BigAl07]

I'm beginning to wonder if LEDs can actually even be techincally "black lights" that emit UV, because everything I can find is LEDs that simulate black light, so maybe its not even a problem

Lots of light can emit "some" light in the "Black Light" spectrum. I'm adding some UV LED's to my LED hood on purpose.

 

[PootyTang]

So could I assume that a black light LED or 2 on my tank won't damage the fish? I mean in the wild, UV penetrates water better than any other part of the spectrum so they must get a fair bit underwater, in fact, I would guess that UV makes up a significant part of the light corals use for energy, I don't know much about the biology here, just the physics so if anyone has any facts I would love to know

 

[Clownfish518]

I don't know how powerful the diodes are.Professor Ellen Thayer wrote an article about exposing her tank to UV for a few seconds a few years ago. It was bad. Fish went blind, fins were damaged, all the coral bleached. About all the survived were the anemones and clownfish, and that is because they hid in the rock.

Like I said I don't know how much your diodes put out. I wouldn't try it. Actinics are good enough for me

 

[Rhodes19]

its actually from an invisible ink pen, the ink glows under a UV LED and so I just shone the LED in the tank
I have some more pictures I'll post today

Cool beans. Thanks

 

[PootyTang]

I guess I'll forgo the black lights then lol
It's just as well, I can use the pen for pics anyway