Will Plexiglass lid reduce UV leading to coral harm?

[AstroCoral]

TLDR: Will Plexiglass reduce UV output from my AI Prime to the point my corals will be negatively impacted?

I have a 3 gallon nano tank that is evaporating at a very fast rate (around 0.5 - 1 gallon in a week). I live in a cold climate so the air is very dry making it even worse. I fitted a plexiglass lid on the tank today but now I’m wondering if the UV protection offered by the Plexiglass is going to cause issues with my more sensitive corals that love light such as stylophora. My desire for the plexiglass lid was to cut it to exact dimensions to both fit around the HOB equipment and reduce evaporation. At the moment I do not want an egg crate lid as that will not help with evaporative losses nor do I want a glass lid as it will be quite difficult to cut to my tanks odd dimensions with the HOB equipment.

 

[stephydawn]

Interested as well… following

 

[Kasrift]

It won't impact it in any real way. There was a thread on here on light reduction based on lid type and it is negligible.

 

[TheBear78]

From a brief Google on the subject it appears that acrylic does block a fair amount of UV. There are also specific UV blocking acrylic sheets available but again, Google suggests that this is only about 5% more restrictive than the normal type. Happy to be corrected on this but my main concern with "tight" fitting lids is the reduction in oxygenation.

Edit. Thanks @Kasrift for clarification.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

From a brief Google on the subject it appears that acrylic does block a fair amount of UV. There are also specific UV blocking acrylic sheets available but again, Google suggests that this is only about 5% more restrictive than the normal type. Happy to be corrected on this but my main concern with "tight" fitting lids is the reduction in oxygenation.

Acrylic lids will warp over time. Faster than you think. Stick with polycarbonate (Lexan) the thinner the better

 

[mike550]

@AstroCoral I don’t think LED lights generate light in the UV spectrum.

 

[jpgillespie2]

I’ve used plexi, but it ended up discoloring and warping. I ended up going to a glass shop and getting a thin sheet of glass cut. I see very minimal difference from having no lid, but there is a small difference in PAR. I bought an air stone and pump that I have run outside with a HEPA filter to help with oxygen and I actually have higher PH now from 8.0 to 8.3.

 

[Kasrift]

@AstroCoral I don’t think LED lights generate light in the UV spectrum.

Correct, they do Violet but not UV, which can be dangerous. Than at Tidal Gardens just mentioned they just got true UV lights and only run it 30 mins a day, this was one of his recent videos.

 

[mike550]

Correct, they do Violet but not UV, which can be dangerous. Than at Tidal Gardens just mentioned they just got true UV lights and only run it 30 mins a day, this was one of his recent videos.

So @AstroCoral with AI Primes doesn’t have to worry about UV loss because there is no UV coming out of the lights.

 

[hart24601]

Primes have very little UV output and it is just barely in the uv range so it’s not something you really need to be worried about imo.

they don’t list the nm of the diodes anymore on the site but they used to use 400 and 405 which with 400nm being upper limit of the definition of UVA these diodes do produce UV, as the peak listed generally has drift of 10-15nm above and below the peak. So a 400nm diode produces half its output, give or take, as UVA. Now it’s only one or two diodes so the amount is not much but they do produce some UV.

 

[Reeflix]

will glass reduce UV and other thing? i know you dont want one but i have glass and im curious

 

[AstroCoral]

So @AstroCoral with AI Primes doesn’t have to worry about UV loss because there is no UV coming out of the lights.

Primes have very little UV output and it is just barely in the uv range so it’s not something you really need to be worried about imo.

they don’t list the nm of the diodes anymore on the site but they used to use 400 and 405 which with 400nm being upper limit of the definition of UVA these diodes do produce UV, as the peak listed generally has drift of 10-15nm above and below the peak. So a 400nm diode produces half its output, give or take, as UVA. Now it’s only one or two diodes so the amount is not much but they do produce some UV.

Thank you for the detailed responses. If it makes any difference, I have the original non-HD AI Prime. I’m having a hard time finding any information on the original Prime’s LED puck output.

 

[hart24601]

Thank you for the detailed responses. If it makes any difference, I have the original non-HD AI Prime. I’m having a hard time finding any information on the original Prime’s LED puck output.

I wouldn’t spend too much time searching, honestly it just won’t matter much if it has 400nm or not. The UVA is so minimal either way. The cover for a lighting perspective filtering out UV isn’t going to impact the tank at all. It’s like 2-3 watts of power from an individual diode at best.

Now if you were keeping reptiles that need much more intense UVB light (40w dedicated UV light depending on setup size) around 280-300nm that would be another issue.

 

[gbroadbridge]

will glass reduce UV and other thing? i know you dont want one but i have glass and im curious

Glass blocks UVB pretty well, but not so much UVA.

Any adverse affect from either as a lid is simply from reduced PAR and reduced gas exchange.

 

[AstroCoral]

I wouldn’t spend too much time searching, honestly it just won’t matter much if it has 400nm or not. The UVA is so minimal either way. The cover for a lighting perspective filtering out UV isn’t going to impact the tank at all.

Now if you were keeping reptiles that need much more intense UVB light around 280-300nm that would be another issue.

Awesome, I greatly appreciate it. I’ll just leave the plexiglass lid on in this case. I have adequate gas exchange as my Seachem Tidal is agitating the water just below an opening in the plexiglass around the filter. This has been a very helpful discussion.

Thank you everyone!

 

[rtparty]

Corals don’t need or use true UV light. AI Primes don’t have enough, if any, true UV to worry about losing any.

There is a ton of chatter about UV lights these days and not a single scientific paper says UV is wanted or needed by corals. The few UV papers that do exist show it is filtered out very quickly (as quick as 3 feet) in the ocean. Corals and fish aren’t utilizing it in any way. The science does tell us how bad UVB is though. Not sure why anyone would purposely add that over their tanks or expose themselves to UVB. Go outside if you want some UVB but our systems don’t need it.