halide question

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by KeeperOfFish

Only HQI bulbs need a piece of glass because they produce UV rays. A mogul based bulb does not produce any UV rays so it does not need any glass. Hope this helps.

Mogul base bulbs do produce UV but the glass envelope of the bulb is the shield. A mogul bulb is nothing but a HQI bulb with a built on UV shield.
ALL HQI bulbs MUST use a separate UV shield.

[Ya Dude]

what problems does the UV cause,I know the sun produces UV and I dont hear the ocean complaining

[fencer]

Aside from burning your retinas out. Can trigger all sorts of nasty skin problems...the C word comes to mind.

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by Ya Dude

what problems does the UV cause,I know the sun produces UV and I dont hear the ocean complaining

The UV will kill anything that is under the light. Fish will eventually be blinded not to mention the harm to you. Think about it...you can sterilize tank water with a 9W UV sterilizer, think what a 400W bulb will do to a tank. Also, just some regular old piece of glass wont do.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

The UV will kill anything that is under the light. Fish will eventually be blinded not to mention the harm to you. Think about it...you can sterilize tank water with a 9W UV sterilizer, think what a 400W bulb will do to a tank. Also, just some regular old piece of glass wont do.

Are you refering to DE bulbs or blocking UV from SE bulbs, as Dana talked about?

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by Doug

Are you refering to DE bulbs or blocking UV from SE bulbs, as Dana talked about?

No actually just the unshielded DE bulbs. I forgot to put the quote in my post. Fixed now.
Actually its not a bad idea to have splash guards on SE bulbs too. They run very hot and a splash could cause the outer envelope to crack or break.
There was a post awhile back from a guy who had that happen and he didnt notice it. First his anemone relocated to the opposite end of the tank and then over the next 2 weeks every coral in the 1 half of the tank died. Unfortunately he discovered the bulb too late when he removed the canopy to clean up the mess.

[Jason McK]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

Mogul base bulbs do produce UV but the glass envelope of the bulb is the shield. A mogul bulb is nothing but a HQI bulb with a built on UV shield.
ALL HQI bulbs MUST use a separate UV shield.

Exactly

J

[Doug]

http://www.masla.com/reef/uvlighting.html

Perhaps read this article. SE bulbs still produce a lot of UV light.

[bv_reefer]

good thread just finished it, darn they didn't have the xm's just coralifes they used for the experiments.

[bv_reefer]

so what should use to cover the top of my tank then? eggcrate?