New plastic light bulbs

[BallAquatics]

I ran across this article and thought it might be of interest.  I believe this works similar to Bill's EL wire.  The part that got me excited was when they said, "...our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143

Dennis

[Mugwump]

I ran across this article and thought it might be of interest.  I believe this works similar to Bill's EL wire.  The part that got me excited was when they said, "...our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143

Dennis

Zounds!!!!!!..cheap effective tank lights???.....

[BillT]

I ran across this article and thought it might be of interest.  I believe this works similar to Bill's EL wire.  The part that got me excited was when they said, "...our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143

Dennis

Quite cool.

I the early 1900's I was involved in a remodel of our zebrafish facility. We had particular desires for our lighting conditions for our tanks. The architect brought in a lighting engineer who presented a series of different possible ways to illuminate the tanks on the rack. This included EL panels, fiber optics, and various fluorescent lighting methods. Because of price at the time and the limits of the technology, we ended up using fluorescent lights in asymmetric wallwashing fixtures (which are made to try to evenly spread the light over a vertical wall for display purposes).
At the time the EL panels were very expensive and of limited colors options so this is quite interesting. This is one of the reasons i was interesting in the EL wire.

The article was interesting, but I would disagree that compact fluorescent bulbs can't do full spectrum. The light producing technology involved would be same as in a normal fluorescent and could be made as natural as any other fluorescent bulb. They just may not be readily available or much more expensive.

Nevertheless, nice spectrum EL panels could be a very interesting new tank lighting technology.

[Mugwump]

I ran across this article and thought it might be of interest.  I believe this works similar to Bill's EL wire.  The part that got me excited was when they said, "...our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143

Dennis

Quite cool.

I the early 1900's I was involved in a remodel of our zebrafish facility. We had particular desires for our lighting conditions for our tanks. The architect brought in a lighting engineer who presented a series of different possible ways to illuminate the tanks on the rack. This included EL panels, fiber optics, and various fluorescent lighting methods. Because of price at the time and the limits of the technology, we ended up using fluorescent lights in asymmetric wallwashing fixtures (which are made to try to evenly spread the light over a vertical wall for display purposes).
At the time the EL panels were very expensive and of limited colors options so this is quite interesting. This is one of the reasons i was interesting in the EL wire.

The article was interesting, but I would disagree that compact fluorescent bulbs can't do full spectrum. The light producing technology involved would be same as in a normal fluorescent and could be made as natural as any other fluorescent bulb. They just may not be readily available or much more expensive.

Nevertheless, nice spectrum EL panels could be a very interesting new tank lighting technology.

LOL...early 1900's....LOL....man you're old.....

[Frank The Plumber]

I am using LED strips. 8 watts over 3 20's turned parallel. Works nice but I am not converting fully until I see how long the LED drivers last.

[Mugwump]

I am using LED strips. 8 watts over 3 20's turned parallel. Works nice but I am not converting fully until I see how long the LED drivers last.

I'm not convinced yet. on what I've seen, that the LED's penetrate deep enough to dp the job with plants...without selling the farm for a big rig...I know that they can be rigged to do the job..but not in a cost efficient way......and single, and affordables, just don't shine down well..

[BillT]

Different people can have different goals for lights on their tanks. What is good for one person's goals is not so well suited for another person's goals.

Here is a list of lighting goals I can think of (someone might be able to add some more):
1) light for plants (different kinds of plants will require different amounts of light)
2) more intense light for reef tanks and things like that
3) enough light to maintain the fish in breeding condition (some fish, like zebrafish) will not breed well if they do not have enough light to give them a strong circadian signal: they also do better with a longer day vs. night circadian rhythm {a circadian rhythm is a daily cycle usually in sync with the day/night cycle}). Also, enough light for the fish to find food etc.
4) not too much light will will tend to stress some fish. (Long ago, in the U of O fish facility, a study was done with zebrafish that showed their egg laying was maximized when illuminated between 5 and 30 footcandles at the top of the tank. This is not very bright by human standards. Therefore people many zebrafish facilities are overilluminated. This was done on bare tanks which are typical of most zebrafish facilities. I suppose that providing shading and hiding places can mitigate this effect, but the study to my knowledge has not been done.)
5) light for seeing the fish as you like to view them.

Since I don't really have many plants growing, my interest is focused on numbers 3 and 4. When I want to do #5, I usually use a flashlight.

Once I get reorganized, I intend to have mostly LEDs for general illumination, a flashlight for more detailed viewing, and a tank with a fluorescent light with plant bulbs to grow some plants in a few specific tanks. Fancy fish academic fish facilities use low light levels mostly, with a second local lighting system which is turned on by a motion sensor when someone is in that area to look at the fish.