UV/ IR light for night observation

[Jaz]

I've seen UV lights advertised at online stores, I run a freshwater tropical tank, do these increase Algae production? How will the fish feel about it?

Fish are clown loaches, a couple of africans, a silver and a rainbow shark.

[GoGuppy]

I've seen UV lights advertised at online stores, I run a freshwater tropical tank, do these increase Algae production? How will the fish feel about it?

Fish are clown loaches, a couple of africans, a silver and a rainbow shark.

G'day Jaz

Re the UV lights have a look at the following thread http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/showthread.php?p=5053#post5053 :biggrin:

Cheers

[Jaz]

Yeah I'd seen that. The sterilising would simply be a bonus, I'm more interested in being able to see them of an evening.

[Woodsy]

Might be better of with some blue LED's or something like that then if you're trying to simulate moonlight.

[devil san]

woodsy is right, go the blue LED's, i have them on my tank and they look great of a night.
here's a hint, go to any car shop and buy the car LED tubes, as they are cheap as, and being for cars they are water tight !!! only downside, being 12 volt, you will need to buy a powerpack and hook them up to that, but thats easy :P

[Alex]

Be careful about how long you run the car lights if you get them. The ones I looked at had warnings about running for more than a few hours at a time. I ended up buying a moonlight (cold cathode fluoro) online for 85 bucks (2ft) which looks great in a 6ft tank lighting up a wood feature, but still leaves some dark areas if fish want to hide.

[wombat1100]

i would love to see some pics and spec of that light Alex, also of it on in the tank if you can!

[wombat1100]

Oh and as for LED's try ebay , they are as cheap as and you can get strips of 1.2 meters for under 20, places like Jaycar sell 12v transformers for under $20 that can run lots of LEDs at once, the one i looked at can run 200 LEDs and was only $15.

[Alex]

i would love to see some pics and spec of that light Alex, also of it on in the tank if you can!

For sure wombat, I'll take some pics tonight in the dark :)

This is where I got the light -

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/moon_lights.php

[wombat1100]

Hey Alex i hate to tell you this but the car ones i looked at were CCFL lights , same as those on that link, they are on ebay for $18 for 2 12" lights. that of course isn't in a flash fitting like the one you have ;)

[Alex]

Hey Alex i hate to tell you this but the car ones i looked at were CCFL lights , same as those on that link, they are on ebay for $18 for 2 12" lights. that of course isn't in a flash fitting like the one you have ;)

lol, bummer :mad:. Probably a good thing in the end, I'd just end up zapping myself trying to wire them up anyway :eek:.