|
To cause flourecence in something, you may only shift towards longer wavelengths. Going backwords would be a violation of mass and energy conservation due to shorter wavelegnths having more energy per photon than longer wavelegnths.
If you wish to cause pigments which flourece deep blue and purple (400-430nm) flourecence, you must stimulate them with light of signifigantly shorter wavelegnth. I use 4x40w T12 NO BLB bulbs over my SPS reef to provide this lighting. It causes flourecence which is impossible to get from actinics (the tank also has 4x54w T5 HO actinics over it for stimulating lower frequency pigments).
As far as "dim" being applied to BLBs, I think the word would be better suited towards certian biomechanisms which raise signal to noise ratio here. If you have a pair of 40w T12 NO bulbs running, one being BLB, one being high efficiency flourecent, you will note the surface temp of the BLB lamps is cooler. If both bulbs draw the same energy in, and one bulb stays cooler, that bulb is emmiting MORE light than the other. It just happens that our eyes only see it at around 0.00002% the intensity which we view different wavelegnths like 555nM green. BLB uses something called wood's glass to absorb all the accidentally created visible wavelegnths, and it is still a more efficient lights than standard flourecents. Keep in mind, all of our lighting aside from incan's and LED's are first creating UV light, then floureceing this light with phosphors on the outside of the glass to drop frequency enough to put them in the visible range.
For folks concerned about dangers associated with BLB tubes, please ensure that you and your corals are never exposed to sunlight.
I dont have the means to conclude if the corals in my reef draw any benifit from the BLB tubes, however, aesthetically I am much more pleased than with actinics alone, as they give me more than just your standard greens and pinks showing under actinics.
Best Wishes,
-Luke
|