Blue Lighting

[pride]

I've seen around pictures on the net of tanks that have like a blue tinted light tube that give a deep water look to the tank. Has anyone used these before? Can these look good in an american cichlid tank? Are there any cons with these tubes such as algae problems or stress on fish?? Also can these be bought at a hardware store rather than a brand name from a LFS? Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers

Adam

[dviv]

The blue flouro's are called actinic globes. They are mainly used in Marine aquariums, as they penetrate much deeper into the water than daylight globes (like the tropical sun for reef fish).

I use 2 x 2 foot actinics on my 5x2x2 display tank (along with 2 x 4foot and 2 x2foot daylights)

They bring out the blue in fish and also can be used to simulate twilight. They will also make fish with "glowing spots" like red forest jewels stand out.

The fish don't care at all what color the light is.

I have never seen them for sale at a hardware store (they are pretty specialised).

They make the water look deep, but they arn't really bright enough to have as your only lights.

HTH :

[SPOCK]

Hi

I also use the Marine light on my 5 2 2 African tank.

It makes them look great as it picks up the blue colour of the fish

I also use other lights like power glo

My 3 foot double light has just burn out.

So i have purchased a 4 foot from BBC with a plug on the end. It came with a cool white tube for $26

I have removed that tube and just brought the NEC aquarium globe from BBC $26

I wil let you know how it looks,

The marine ligts are not cheap, but do do a good job

Mark