halide question

[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.