I hate to be the bearer of bad news...

[Reefer1978]

You need to download f.lux on your computer mate it will automatically start filtering out blue light more and more as it gets later at night. I also use "twilight" on my phone as it is similar (although many phones have an inbuilt blue light filter these days).

Apple devices have this OS feature now.

 

[bigcheese]

Consider the source... Yahoo is terrible for publishing click-bait with no factual basis.
The majority of the French "study" is mostly lifted from Harvard studies done in '99 and revisited in 2010, 2012 and 2014, plus some unjustified knee-jerk reactions (like recommending that cars have dimmer headlights).
There's a much better, newer study that was done by NIH in 2016. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734149 )
To summarize: Blue light influences melatonin production (tells your brain when to sleep), lipofuscin and rhodopsin chromatophores (lets your eyes sense blue light).
Long-term exposure to medium-high intensity blue light (> 12 hours per day @ 1000+ lux for weeks at at time) has been implicated in retinal cell damage in rats because those chromatophores become oxidative radicals. Not really a concern unless you spend all day staring at your Blue+ T5s.
Melatonin production also returns to normal about 60-90 minutes after blue light exposure, so just limiting *when* you look at your tank may be a help to the insomniacs.

Some good news... first, blue light (400-490nm) has not been implicated as a cause for macular degeneration. OTOH, UV light (280-400nm) has been.
Second, as we get older, the lenses in our eyes become yellower, filtering more blue light out. So don't get on this old guy's case that my tank looks like it's full of Windex, it looks perfect to me! [emoji6]

Before I had to get legit prescription glasses, I used Gunnar Optiks and they were fantastic for filtering blue light from my 'puter screen. Double bonus, they have a slight magnification that is focused at about 24". They really do make corals look fantastic.

 

[jd371]

We don't live under the lights, do you think there's long term effects on the fish?

 

[Signalhead]

Crap, my wife was right! My tank is going to be the death of me.

 

[ca1ore]

I just read this article about the effect of blue LEDs on the retina and on sleep patterns.

Summarizing the findings:

1. They distinguish between acute and chronic exposure.
2. Even chronic exposure can accelerate the aging of retinal tissue, contributing to a decline in visual acuity and certain degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration.
3. Blue LEDs interfere with body's circadian rhythm (causing sleep problems)

The original report is in French, but there is an English language opinion and summary.

My wife has age related macular degeneration. Fortunately, she is not a big fan of the tank and does not spend a lot of time staring at the tank. Now I won't question her indifference!

Interesting, thanks for posting. Point #2 doesn't really make logical sense though, unless it was supposed to be 'even occasional exposure …….'. Don't have time now to read the article.

 

[ca1ore]

We don't live under the lights, do you think there's long term effects on the fish?

The reason we use blue-shifted lighting is to better replicate the spectrum filtering that happens at depth on the reef. Unless there is something specific to LED-generate blue light, fish and corals are adapted to the shift.

 

[jtl]

I will ask my Ophthalmologist but I bet she will say don't worry. I recently had cataract surgery and wow what a difference, everything is so white and bright and no need for glasses, even for reading. I think the dangers of UV is well known. I have a UV light in my air handler (furnace for those of you up North) and during inspections the tech makes sure he turns it off before he opens up the unit. He learned the hard way once and only caught a glancing view but was up all night with excruciating pain in his eyes.

 

[mta_morrow]

FWIW, the blue lights get me after a while.

I dropped from 16-18K down to 10-12K
Several months ago and I can tell the difference. I guess I need to get out my Seneye and see exactly where it is now.

My coral and nems seem to like it a lot better too.

 

[Mike.P]

It's been known for a while, there have been a number of studies on it the past few years... Mostly relating to our growing use of various screens over the last decade, but really any strong source of blue light can do it; this is why so many phones and tablets have blue light filters now, that by default kick on between sunset and sunrise.

 

[Righteous]

Long-term exposure to medium-high intensity blue light (> 12 hours per day @ 1000+ lux for weeks at at time) has been implicated in retinal cell damage in rats because those chromatophores become oxidative radicals. Not really a concern unless you spend all day staring at your Blue+ T5s.

You mean I shouldn't sit here all day staring at my tank and instead get some actual work done? Boo!

 

[MnFish1]

The reason we use blue-shifted lighting is to better replicate the spectrum filtering that happens at depth on the reef. Unless there is something specific to LED-generate blue light, fish and corals are adapted to the shift.

I dont subscribe to this... - we dont know what depth the coral in our tank come from - most if not all can also grow in 'shallow depth' (or?). I think most people like the 'fluorescent' look - as compared to what is good for the corals - but I may be wrong.

 

[BadFish619]

It's so hard to say. There are definitely 2 schools of thought on this and detailed arguments on both sides. Next week will be an article saying its fine. I'm in the group that thinks well, I'm not personally looking at my tank 12 hours a day so the few times I do take a minute out to look probably isn't going to hurt. As far as the fish are concerned, there are plenty of people who have run blues all night, and plenty who go complete dark. I personally have complete dark for about 6 hours but I would be totally fine with blues all night. In "in home studies" over long periods of time, I haven't seen any ill effect on fish behavior. Like I said, I do stick to a blackout rule but I have seen no convincing evidence to support blues are hurting our animals

 

[Robert McCreary]

yeah, after getting my reef tank setup I have noticed some issues with my eyes. im a marksman at using iron sights now I have a hard time pinpointing the orange on my target at 100 yrds so I can say the uv, blue and the high intensity of my led is causing eye problems/damage no longer can make the same shots as I did before started reefing.

 

[Dana Riddle]

@Dana Riddle what do you think bud?

IMHO, it depends upon dosage (that is blue light intensity (PPFD) and exposure time.) I haven't read the papers' conclusions, but tend to think weak output of various aquarium lamps (as compared to sunlight) would have a minimal negative effect on vision.

 

[Gerry1563]

I was wondering about this the other day, when I noticed a blue light filter option on my Samsung S9. There must be known issues that they are not broadcasting. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is the WORST blue light ever

This is the worst blue light when youre doing 85 mph:

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have often opened canopy doors and got hit with that bright blue and said to myself- this Can't be good for the eyes

 

[hart24601]

It was a bummer I'm sure for my grandparents and earlier that were farmers, outside from dawn to dusk and before sunglasses were around. I am curious about the effect of sunlight as I like to be outside a lot, I am less concerned about the blue light from my tank.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Ahhhh, the blue screen of death...

 

[ca1ore]

I dont subscribe to this... - we dont know what depth the coral in our tank come from - most if not all can also grow in 'shallow depth' (or?). I think most people like the 'fluorescent' look - as compared to what is good for the corals - but I may be wrong.

Oh I don’t dispute the aesthetic element, but in the early days of reefing actinic bulbs were used to help provide a proxy for the blue shift. If you dive (or snorkel) it’s quite surprising how quickly the blue shift happens.