Bpb
2500 Club Member
I have two problems with the recent video discussing uvb.
1. He touched on temperature briefly. The technology of his system isn’t revolutionary or even new. Using a bare reflector will result in a reflector that is hot to the touch. He simply puts an outer metal jacket around the reflector, with a small air-barrier between reflector and exterior housing. Hamilton, giesemann, sunlight supply, and coralvue have been doing this for decades. My lumenbright reflectors were cool to the touch also, as they were built the same way. The concern was the radiant heat downward. Not upward.
It is a sneaky tactic used in an attempt to convince people the heat equation has finally been solved. It hasn’t. In many circumstances, the radiant heat downward still heats the water undesirably when using halides. I’ve never cared what the top of my reflectors feel like. Obviously people in cold climates with spacious infrastructure and ventilation don’t mind, as it can be a benefit. Or those who are just ok with paying to play and run a big chiller….or those who are just ok with evaporating 2-3% of their water volume daily and living in a 85% humidity home.
One way or another, it is addressed, and how you choose to live with it is your business….but let’s not pretend that bulbs which function literally on heating gas to very high temperatures, suddenly don’t get hot. That is patent nonsense. And the irony of it, is the only people who will fall for it are those who already are halide loyalists. I cannot imagine a significant amount of new hobbyists stumbled on this video and changed their mind on how to run their tank based on the tricky data presented. I digress point 1…
2. Presence of something does not imply biological necessity. There are trace amounts of gold and silver in seawater. That doesn’t mean it provides any biological function whatsoever (it may, I don’t know). Just like compounds in the air we breathe are brought in, and promptly expelled, providing zero benefit to respiration.
Uvb may be the same as above (I don’t know). But we don’t need to stop there. Wavelengths get shorter and shorter from the sun down to gamma levels, as mentioned by others on here. They get longer as well into radio wave levels. Again. Doesn’t mean they have a biological importance. Someone found a uvb meter and messed around with it and made a video. Nowhere at all does it ever indicate any actual use for uvb. Maybe it is beneficial. But you can’t make that deduction from the video. And to do so is irresponsible interpretation of “data”. That video should be seen as a glorified podcast. Just some dudes talking. Nothing presented in it has any scientific basis whatsoever, down to the way the “experiments” were performed.
I’m fine with the video. I could see how fans would find it entertaining. But let’s not present it as some sort of breakthrough
1. He touched on temperature briefly. The technology of his system isn’t revolutionary or even new. Using a bare reflector will result in a reflector that is hot to the touch. He simply puts an outer metal jacket around the reflector, with a small air-barrier between reflector and exterior housing. Hamilton, giesemann, sunlight supply, and coralvue have been doing this for decades. My lumenbright reflectors were cool to the touch also, as they were built the same way. The concern was the radiant heat downward. Not upward.
It is a sneaky tactic used in an attempt to convince people the heat equation has finally been solved. It hasn’t. In many circumstances, the radiant heat downward still heats the water undesirably when using halides. I’ve never cared what the top of my reflectors feel like. Obviously people in cold climates with spacious infrastructure and ventilation don’t mind, as it can be a benefit. Or those who are just ok with paying to play and run a big chiller….or those who are just ok with evaporating 2-3% of their water volume daily and living in a 85% humidity home.
One way or another, it is addressed, and how you choose to live with it is your business….but let’s not pretend that bulbs which function literally on heating gas to very high temperatures, suddenly don’t get hot. That is patent nonsense. And the irony of it, is the only people who will fall for it are those who already are halide loyalists. I cannot imagine a significant amount of new hobbyists stumbled on this video and changed their mind on how to run their tank based on the tricky data presented. I digress point 1…
2. Presence of something does not imply biological necessity. There are trace amounts of gold and silver in seawater. That doesn’t mean it provides any biological function whatsoever (it may, I don’t know). Just like compounds in the air we breathe are brought in, and promptly expelled, providing zero benefit to respiration.
Uvb may be the same as above (I don’t know). But we don’t need to stop there. Wavelengths get shorter and shorter from the sun down to gamma levels, as mentioned by others on here. They get longer as well into radio wave levels. Again. Doesn’t mean they have a biological importance. Someone found a uvb meter and messed around with it and made a video. Nowhere at all does it ever indicate any actual use for uvb. Maybe it is beneficial. But you can’t make that deduction from the video. And to do so is irresponsible interpretation of “data”. That video should be seen as a glorified podcast. Just some dudes talking. Nothing presented in it has any scientific basis whatsoever, down to the way the “experiments” were performed.
I’m fine with the video. I could see how fans would find it entertaining. But let’s not present it as some sort of breakthrough
