Vision Loss & Blue Light

MnFish1

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I’m glad I stumbled upon this thread. I will make some adjustments to take better care of my eyes. Thanks for sharing!
No offense. Are you serious???? Do you go outside. This sounds sarcastic i know but really?
 

MnFish1

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Interesting read, wonder why it got buried so quick since this should be talked about more often. After reading about this stuff I am definitely just going to retrofit leds into my JBJ hood instead of hanging pendants above the tank.

What I find interesting is that just about every seller got away from their retrofit stuff, even rapid led isn’t selling much anymore besides the hanging fixtures. Since I have little kids at home whom I like I will not risk their eyesight over a hobby, I just wish retailers and other hobbies shared the same opinion.
How did it get buried quick?
 

MnFish1

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No, I am quite worried about the world on fire, thanks.

But, given the recently released study, I am also concerned that staring at my blue-led-lit reef tanks might contribute to macular degeneration in my eyes. And I might have harder time saving the world if I go blind.
And why would you do that it’s a myth. Are you serious
 

MnFish1

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No, I am quite worried about the world on fire, thanks.

But, given the recently released study, I am also concerned that staring at my blue-led-lit reef tanks might contribute to macular degeneration in my eyes. And I might have harder time saving the world if I go blind.
Do you stare at your reef for hours at a time ?
 

Swoody

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There are so many more things to be worried about in our lives that cause us cellular, macular, genetic, etc... damage way beyond the freaking actinic lights of our reefs. Give me a break. The ones we need to be concerned with are all them poor blind fish out there in our tanks.
 

ZoWhat

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They're now selling these glasses on BRS for $49.99 for extended tank viewing

images
 

Kershaw

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I noticed at the bottom of the artical it says avoid using devices in the dark. Is there a reason that blue light is more dangerous in the dark. Isn’t exposure, exposure. Regardless of the light around it. I’m just wondering. I talked to two eye doctors that said that the fish tank is not a risk unless you stare directly into the light. One said his class in school was used in a study on blue light. Appearantly when eye doctors are in school they diolite each other’s eyes and shine bright lights in there eyes, repedidly during there course. And they found no evidence that it was dangerous. He also mentioned that the only risk might be young children staring directly into the light. Oh and he said smoking was one of the biggest causes of vision loss in older people. Many doctors have different opinions I’m sure. But I’ll risk it
 

LMDAVE

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I know this is an old topic, but I wanted some clarifications on what may be considered bad. How close to an aquarium blue light would cause the damage? The reason I am asking is I recently got an SBReef Black Box light, my old light was flush mount LED and never had an issue. I built a canopy over the light because the glaring LED was really bother me on my sofa (I only went one day withouta canopy, and have been having this light about 3 weeks now). But even with the canopy on that covers the direct light, you can see in this picture how the light escapes from under the canopy and angles to the floor. My sofa is about 10 feet away from the tank.

The reason I'm looking into this is I've been feeling pain in my left eye, even more so the left side of my left eye, which is what is exposed to the tank while I'm watching TV. The blue light is not directly on me on the sofa, but still I'm wondering what is coming from the tank is causing an issue if sitting watching a movie for hours, etc from the sofa spot?

My only recourse would be to extend the canopy all the way down to the tank which I really dont want to do. My eye doesn't see the actual LEDs with the canopy how it is.

light_blue.jpg
 

Gaspipe

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I think I may need a canopy! My tank is on a floating shelf and the bottom rests about chin level. I can clearly see the LEDs when I look up... This isn't good.

07 28.jpeg
 

MartinM

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American aquariums: “any color you want, as long as it’s blue”.
 

MnFish1

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I know this is an old topic, but I wanted some clarifications on what may be considered bad. How close to an aquarium blue light would cause the damage? The reason I am asking is I recently got an SBReef Black Box light, my old light was flush mount LED and never had an issue. I built a canopy over the light because the glaring LED was really bother me on my sofa (I only went one day withouta canopy, and have been having this light about 3 weeks now). But even with the canopy on that covers the direct light, you can see in this picture how the light escapes from under the canopy and angles to the floor. My sofa is about 10 feet away from the tank.

The reason I'm looking into this is I've been feeling pain in my left eye, even more so the left side of my left eye, which is what is exposed to the tank while I'm watching TV. The blue light is not directly on me on the sofa, but still I'm wondering what is coming from the tank is causing an issue if sitting watching a movie for hours, etc from the sofa spot?

My only recourse would be to extend the canopy all the way down to the tank which I really dont want to do. My eye doesn't see the actual LEDs with the canopy how it is.

light_blue.jpg
I might suggest that if you're having 'eye pain' especially on one side - that you worry more about having a visual exam/eye MD appointment than your fish tank light. There is a difference (IMHO) in staring at a tank 7 days a week 24 hours a day - as compared to periodic viewing. My impression would be that if companies were concerned with this issue - and there was common eye problems, etc - that they would be forced to change the design. Many companies do not recommend looking 'directly' at the LED's - especially when they are brightly lit.
 

TeotheCoral

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Upon further review, I have to admit Super Dragon, your post was a bit irresponsible but I hope my response helped clear the air/water, I hope no hard feelings, I totally respect ur hard work to become a health care provider as I`m sure you are awesome in your field, peace!
There are research that suggest low wavelength light can be damaging to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) which could lead to damage to photoreceptors given the intimacy between the two. I would be careful with what you say. Although it is true that you do not need OCT to diagnose any form of macular degeneration (funduscopy is all you need), OCT Is s good ancillary test for any form of macular degeneration. There is no true evidence that beta keratin (e.g. Lutien and zeaxanthin) helps except maybe from AREDS2. Smoking increases the risk of Age-related macular degeneration, not other form of macular degeneration. Your response might be a bit irresponsible.
 

MnFish1

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Hi everyone,
I just want to share my vision loss experience with my reef. Im obsessed with sps since 2006ish. I love our hobby. I'm a 40 year old surgeon and my wife is an optometrist.

She recently got a new toy called a OCT scanner/machine ($50k) and uses it as a screening tool (MRI for the inside of the eye, not just photos!) and I was the guinea pig. The scan is very advanced.

After my scan I was informed that I have macular disease in my right eye, NOT age related, but due to damage from actinic blue lights. I had damage in my right eye equivalent to a 70 year, almost double my age! This can only be detected by a OCT scan and nothing else. The macula in the back of my eye is degenerating from blue light!
One's vision will get darker, difficulty seeing at night, and lead to blindness. This is NOT reversible but a ounce prevention is worth a pound of cure.
UV protection do not stop this type of damage. I was depressed and went into denial.

My wife understands my love for the hobby and the problem with blue light leaking, scatter, glare, or light leakage. I could careless at this point for myself and fear for my CHILDREN!

She knew I cannot give up my hobby.
So these are her recommendations.

1. Use a canopy if possible.
I added one because I could not stand the light leakage anymore. We all strive to have a even blanket of PAR on our tanks but light leakage is an issue with T5, MH, and newer LEDS with wide lenses. Having a canopy is like a lamp shade over one's tank. I like the open top look and convenience putting my hands in, but not worth losing my vision for.

2. Use Blue light blocking lenses to minimize exposure.
They work and are not standardized. Some block between 5-30%. Higher the better, but will sacrifice color rendition. I got mine online for under $20, cheap and work. Higher quality prescription ones cost a lot more but also more effective, better materials, last longer.

3. Blue light blocking app. Not just for sleeping, but to reduce intense blue light from one's electronic devices.

4. Take Lutien supplements. Studies show long term reduction in damage to the macula.

5. Best to get your eyes checked and scanned with a OCT and interpreted/ evaluated from a Eye Doctor. Not all of them have a OCT, it's expensive equipment. Be sure to ask before you go.

Personally, the hospital operating room upgraded their surgical lights to over 100+ LEDS in each! I have to turn down intensity to 60-80% and wear blue blocking lenses. Or my eyes burn, dry, headaches, and feel pain.

For our friends that work at LFS I hope they all are informed. They probably get the most exposure.

If I'm missing anything please share. I'm not a Eye doctor.

I now have to change my lifestyle and I hope this can help someone prevent one's vision loss or even protect their children's vision to enjoy our amazing hobby.
I get OCT every 6 months. I would almost guarantee that these statements are not quite correct. 1. A new OCT machine - and a new operator. There would be no reason that one eye would be worse than the second eye if it was 'due to actinic light' - that I can see. 3. There is no way to prove/suggest/infer that disease in one eye (if not user error) - is 'from actinic light'
 

flagg37

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No one has directly brought up intensity and duration. Someone brought up sound and I think that’s a good way of thinking about it. At a consistent low volume you can listen to any frequency and it won’t do any damage. This is why I’m not sure why scientists would call the blue/violet spectrum high energy. There’s no increase in energy just it’s frequency. Plus it seems very arbitrary; someone just decided to call it high energy. Why not make the cut off at 750nm? I digress.

With sound, it’s only when you increase the volume (intensity) that it becomes dangerous and you need to limit the duration of the exposure to not lead to hearing loss. Now I’m not sure our eyes work the same way as our ears to be able to make an equivalent analogy but I’m sure there is a correlation in regards to the intensity and duration. The more intense the exposure and the longer the duration of the exposure would lead to dangerous levels. Now what the threshold is that would cause irreparable damage is what I think we’re debating, and it might be different person to person.

One other thing to think about in regards to intensity is your distance from the source. Light diminishes according to the inverse square of the distance to the source so if you’re right up next to the light doing maintenance, the intensity is way more than if you were looking at it from your couch.

Personally I would doubt that regular viewing of a reef tank would cause much if any damage.
 

zuri

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I hope this isn't turning into a your tank is killing you thread.
I'm not a scientist, but a cowboy, farmer soldier, welder, african bushman, and Himalayan are exposed to a lot of UV from 5am to 10pm. Should you stare into a metal halide? No. SHould you use a canopy so the kids dont stare into the MH or Radion, yea, it makes your tank look better actually. Do contractors use the biggest most expensive new half researched lights and not use a meter to set them based on years of research into spectrum and intensity? Oh yea!
Do we remember when science said margarine was better than butter? Or that we should eliminate all fat from our diet? Or that all bacteria and exposure to it is bad? Or that pasteurization of everything is good?

Don't look directly into the sun.


Jus sayin.
as always sense within the nonsense
 

TeotheCoral

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No one has directly brought up intensity and duration. Someone brought up sound and I think that’s a good way of thinking about it. At a consistent low volume you can listen to any frequency and it won’t do any damage. This is why I’m not sure why scientists would call the blue/violet spectrum high energy. There’s no increase in energy just it’s frequency. Plus it seems very arbitrary; someone just decided to call it high energy. Why not make the cut off at 750nm? I digress.

With sound, it’s only when you increase the volume (intensity) that it becomes dangerous and you need to limit the duration of the exposure to not lead to hearing loss. Now I’m not sure our eyes work the same way as our ears to be able to make an equivalent analogy but I’m sure there is a correlation in regards to the intensity and duration. The more intense the exposure and the longer the duration of the exposure would lead to dangerous levels. Now what the threshold is that would cause irreparable damage is what I think we’re debating, and it might be different person to person.

One other thing to think about in regards to intensity is your distance from the source. Light diminishes according to the inverse square of the distance to the source so if you’re right up next to the light doing maintenance, the intensity is way more than if you were looking at it from your couch.

Personally I would doubt that regular viewing of a reef tank would cause much if any damage.
E = hv . So energy is proportional to wavelength. So blue light with lower wavelength and higher frequency is indeed more energy than red light.
 

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