Colorblind Reefing

cperry7467 · Dec 8, 2015

The other day I saw a video for some glasses meant for colorblind made by EnChroma. I've seen multiple now where grown men are crying after putting them on after seeing colors in a whole new way (supposedly, I'm not sold yet). I am red-green colorblind, it's not that bad I mean I can tell the difference between lights on a stop light but when you get shades between colors like maroon it just looks brown to me or light pink looks white. It got me thinking about my reef tank. The colors are so vibrant and crazy and I can't even see all the colors apparently. Makes me wonder how everyone else sees my tank. Has anyone tried any colorblind correctness (glasses, contacts, etc) that has a reef tank? Were the colors that much different? I'd be really curious to try the EnChroma glasses to see what a difference they make but at $300+ that's hard to justify.

For those who have normal vision one thing to keep in mind is that to a colorblind person their vision seems normal to them. So for me personally it's hard to imagine that things look that much different than how I see them now.

joecrack8 · Dec 8, 2015

Cool post I am color blind also and I have the same thoughts. One this that I always notice is that when friends and family come Coral shopping with me they are sometimes questionable about what I like. I like what I like, and who knows if I put the glasses on maybe I won't like my tank as much?

human · Dec 8, 2015

I researched those glasses, but unfortunately for me they won't work, I see monochromatic. I'm not in this hobby for the color, I just love watching the interactions of the inhabitants and the challenges. I also tend to buy fish more on pattern and personality too. I would gladly pay money to see color and I guess if you're not wowed by them you'd probably be able to send them back for a partial or full refund depending if they were prescription lenses.

cperry7467 · Dec 8, 2015

joecrack8 said:
Cool post I am color blind also and I have the same thoughts. One this that I always notice is that when friends and family come Coral shopping with me they are sometimes questionable about what I like. I like what I like, and who knows if I put the glasses on maybe I won't like my tank as much?

Seriously, like is my lime green monti actually poop brown to everyone else? Although I think it would be the opposite. What I read online a couple of nights ago was that someone with red-green colorblindness only sees a portion of the shades of colors other people see. I just imagine there being a bunch of new shades on a coral that once appeared the same color green all around. I need to find a local seller and test these glasses out.

human said:
I researched those glasses, but unfortunately for me they won't work, I see monochromatic. I'm not in this hobby for the color, I just love watching the interactions of the inhabitants and the challenges. I also tend to buy fish more on pattern and personality too. I would gladly pay money to see color and I guess if you're not wowed by them you'd probably be able to send them back for a partial or full refund depending if they were prescription lenses.

That sucks big time. I'm a strong deutan according to EnChroma's test and there is a 75% chance the glasses work for me so no guarantees.

asandbox · Dec 8, 2015

i herd that diving after a certain depth you go color blind so they use red filters in order to see colors, is it the same thing with the glasses or is their actual electronics going on? i seen some videos and a looks like the lens just has some color to it

cperry7467 · Dec 8, 2015

asandbox said:
i herd that diving after a certain depth you go color blind so they use red filters in order to see colors, is it the same thing with the glasses or is their actual electronics going on? i seen some videos and a looks like the lens just has some color to it

I had never heard that before, that's odd. Yea I don't think there are any electronics going on with the glasses. Not sure how it works exactly.

human · Dec 8, 2015

They're not electronic, they were originally developed to block out lasers for pilots I believe, but the developer found out by accident that it helps with some types of color blindness.

DrayB · Dec 8, 2015

its not that you go colour blind when diving...its the spectrum of light decreases with water depth therefore colour starts to drop, kinda like your tank lights

redfishbluefish · Dec 8, 2015

I too am red-green colorblind. On there own I see red and green, but as a doctor told my parents in the 50's, I see it differently. I run into problems when at a distance or in combination with other colors. I worked construction one summer and the foreman was explaining were he wanted supplies delivered....with those little red flags out in a large grassy field. I could not see the flags. I had to get down on hands and knees and look for the little wire pole sticking up.

As far as my tank and corals, I'm happy with what I'm seeing....different for "normal" color people, but good for me. Look at it this way....maybe the "normal" color people are missing out on what we're seeing.

I see nothing here:

cperry7467 · Dec 8, 2015

Yea I see some orange and green dots but I can't make out a number. A fun experiment is to change the color settings on your monitor while looking at those plates and suddenly the number appears if you change the tint.

And don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm unhappy with the colors in my tank, I love my tank. But just knowing or thinking that there are some thousands of shades of colors that I can't see just peaks my curiosity to see what I'm missing. I'm sure that's why this company can get away with charging $300-400 for a pair of glasses.

human · Dec 8, 2015

cperry7467 said:
Seriously, like is my lime green monti actually poop brown to everyone else? Although I think it would be the opposite. What I read online a couple of nights ago was that someone with red-green colorblindness only sees a portion of the shades of colors other people see. I just imagine there being a bunch of new shades on a coral that once appeared the same color green all around. I need to find a local seller and test these glasses out.

That sucks big time. I'm a strong deutan according to EnChroma's test and there is a 75% chance the glasses work for me so no guarantees.

I've learned over the years that I can distinguish yellow and blue, but I still don't actually see the color itself, like blue and yellow objects seem sharper for some odd reason.

DrayB · Dec 8, 2015

joecrack8 · Dec 8, 2015

Can you guys send some pics of your tanks?

EchoPapaGolf · Dec 8, 2015

I always dreamed of being a pilot in the military growing up but all I saw were dots in those stupid tests. I was told I'm red green colorblind. I've seen the reaction videos and would love to try these magical spectacles lol.
Wouldn't it be interesting to see a color comparison of what corals look like to a normal person vs what we see?

psychobilly07 · Dec 8, 2015

Great thread, I too am colorblind but have never heard of these glasses til now. Im wondering if my tank isnt as awesome as I think it is haha Btw i love trying to find out what numbers those lil circles make out cause I rarely am able to.

garra671 · Dec 9, 2015

cperry7467 said:
Seriously, like is my lime green monti actually poop brown to everyone else? Although I think it would be the opposite. What I read online a couple of nights ago was that someone with red-green colorblindness only sees a portion of the shades of colors other people see. I just imagine there being a bunch of new shades on a coral that once appeared the same color green all around. I need to find a local seller and test these glasses out.

That sucks big time. I'm a strong deutan according to EnChroma's test and there is a 75% chance the glasses work for me so no guarantees.

i dont know about the monti but that perc in your display pic is beautiful, that orange and white is so vibrat. just messing with you =P

rovster · Dec 9, 2015

I am deutan colorblind also. I failed (or passed depending on how you see it) every colorblindness test known to man. My wife is an optometrist and they brought me in during their colorvision studies and used me as a guinea pig to run all their tests on. My results were textbook.

As far as I understand it, no glasses or program will ever give us the opportunity to see things as others without colorblindness do. As a deutan, we are missing the green cone in our eye, and a pair of glasses or filters is not going to replace that. Most of these glasses act as filters so we can possibly distinguish colors we couldn't before. Like that white and light pink, or light orange and pink. As a kid I'd confuse blue and purple all the time too.

Its funny you mention this. Of course I always wonder what others see in my corals. I'm totally into SPS but some of these rainbow varieties I just don't see it, LOL. I tend to gravitate to corals with a lot of contrast, or those that have stark colors. Everyone LOVES a strawberry shortcake acro. For a lot of people its their favorite. To me, its nice but I just don't see it, literally.

I had a mille once that I loved because I thought it was light green and shaggy. My buddy was like there's green, peach, lavender, and maybe some orange in there. To me it looked like a green shaggy stick!

I believe there are also apps on your phone you can download that you can see through special filters that will help you distinguish colors, again you'll never see it like everyone else, but you can see a difference you couldn't without the filter.

rovster · Dec 9, 2015

And don't get me started on test kits...."honey, can you help me a second....." Oh yeah, you know you've done it!

dewboy1127 · Dec 9, 2015

I am also colorblind and this has been a educational read and now I know im not the only one out there and have a better understanding ...the tests are the worse my other half or my daughter have to help me everytime to see the color change....it sucks to have someone showing you a multi colored coral and your just standing there like "oh yeah thats nice" lol