Concerned over blue light and our eye health

[reefjon]

This is a great topic. I think shading excess light from getting across the room is a great idea. Ultimately I think what will be the most important is the schedule of your lights. If you have your lights turn off a few hours before you go to bed it will help balance your circadian rhythm. Also shortens the window of time you have to stare into the tank. All while keeping your tank inhabitants happy. I know some night owls will run their tank lights well past midnight. I personally believe in 8-9 hours of sleep during the night, not into the hours of day. So my tank lights go out by 8pm and it's also an indicator that I'm done eating/snacking for the day. By 9:30 I'm usually ready to snooze. With all that said I've always had a hard time falling asleep, so I'm hyper aware of how my body responds to extra stimuli. The biggest downside is that if I have a long day I sometimes get home when the lights are already ramping down. Luckily my fish have gotten used to evening feedings.

 

[Freenow54]

I know this is a topic that we all want to ignore. But I am officially concerned over my tank lights having a negative impact on my and my family’s (2 small children) eye health. I had concerns over this topic before getting in to the hobby… but always ignored/silenced that tiny voice in my head saying it was too risky—especially for my kids.
So, I am left at a crossroads of if I need to get rid of my tank or if I can find ways to ease my concerns.
My tank is small, just a IM nuvo fusion 20 gallon.
I have considered doing a custom built canopy to block out the excess light. This seems like a somewhat difficult project.
An extreme idea I had was to alter the light schedule so that the blue lights were coming on when my kids were asleep… say, from 7pm-12am, then dark from 12am-sunrise, roughly 6 hours of dark?
The tank is in our family room/kitchen area, where we spend most of our time. We LOVE the tank and watching our fish/corals. So I don’t want to move it to another room… though I guess that’s better than getting rid of it all together.
I need to do something but I am not sure what. Does anyone have any input on this issue? Thank you!

So I goggled it. Yes UV is tops blue second. However remember these rays are present from the sun TV phones tablets ect ect. Gaming yup

 

[Freenow54]

Should have added don't look directly at lights. It hurts anyway nature protects us

 

[homer1475]

Worried over blue lights from the tank, but no one thinks twice about stuffing a tablet or phone in a kids hands.

 

[Chrisv.]

People lose their minds when these ideas are discussed. It seems that the reefing community is pretty unwilling to submit that there is any risk to kids eyes. It's really something.

There are plenty of threads about this here and a whole lot of papers on the topic. I will say this: I am not all that concerned about the light that's filtered through water and the front glass. I AM concerned about kids looking directly into high powered LEDs. The front of the tank *may* be equivalent to looking at a cellphone screen, but there is no way on earth anyone can compare the led matrix of a kessil to a screen.

In my house, the hobby has had to suffer to accommodate this. My tank has an enclosed lid that has a light sitting directly on the surface of the lid. It gives a pretty bad spotlight effect and it's not ideal for my corals. But compared to my kid's eyes, the corals can suffer. When my kid is a little older it won't be an issue. For now, I will suck it up and deal with less than ideal lighting.

 

[homer1475]

People lose their minds when these ideas are discussed. It seems that the reefing community is pretty unwilling to submit that there is any risk to kids eyes. It's really something.

There are plenty of threads about this here and a whole lot of papers on the topic. I will say this: I am not all that concerned about the light that's filtered through water and the front glass. I AM concerned about kids looking directly into high powered LEDs. The front of the tank *may* be equivalent to looking at a cellphone screen, but there is no way on earth anyone can compare the led matrix of a kessil to a screen.

In my house, the hobby has had to suffer to accommodate this. My tank has an enclosed lid that has a light sitting directly on the surface of the lid. It give a pretty bad spotlight effect and it's not ideal for my corals. But compared to my kid's eyes, the corals can suffer. When my kid is a little older it won't be an issue. For now, I will suck it up and deal with less than ideal lighting.

No doubt looking directly into the light will hurt your eyes, may even burn your cornea(similar to staring at the sun to long, or welders eye).

I just find it comical that people worry about thier kids looking at the blue light through the glass, but have no problem handing thier kid a ipad, phone, whatever type of screen when they act up. No one thinks the screen is just as bad, if not worse then them looking at the tank.

 

[laezur]

All I will say is my lightbulb broke recently and I’m lazy and poor so I didn’t go get another one since the sun keeps my room well lit. My office was blue most nights, from the fish tank. I was getting way more headaches than normal, until I got another lightbulb.

 

[Freakmachine01]

Can I please ask what tint did you purchase? I am thinking of doing the same thing, but it's hard to find a proper one.

I really apologize in the delay of me getting back to you. I actually lost the link that I used to go get it. But now I found the receipt and this is the company I got mine from.

UV Filter Material Sheets and Rolls

 

[LOVEROCK]

Does the covid vaccine really make your junk fall
Off ?

My junk is still here