Are the UV bulbs in LED lights bad for our health?

[Abzdot]

I own an Ai hydra 26 hd which has 2 uv bulbs, is that bad for my health or is it nothing to worry about? I believe they're around 0.6 watts each

[Beginnerreeftanker]

I wouldn’t think so... I’m no expert but there are UV sterilizer in tanks that no one worries about....

[Abzdot]

51 minutes ago, Beginnerreeftanker said:

I wouldn’t think so... I’m no expert but there are UV sterilizer in tanks that no one worries about....

well UV sterilisers are encased

 

[Garf]

UV sterilizers are enclosed, lights are not.

 

It is a good idea to size a light correctly so that light spill doesn't get out of hand. You should avoid looking directly into any UV light source

[applejk]

I read an article a while back so and they said they did a study that blue light could cause macular degeneration.  It was just 1 study so there wasn't a ton of information about it.  So just to be on the safe side I put a canopy around my lights so my kids don't look up at it and get blinded by the lights in general. 

[Tamberav]

Are they really UV LEDs? A lot of lights call it UV but it's actually not true UV at all.

 

The old HD one isn't true UV so guessing this one isn't either.

[Reefkid88]

I believe its anything sub 395ish is when it starts to become bad ? I'm probably wrong. But I think like 365nm is when it can really start deteriorating skin cells. I'm probably way off but that is a place to start a quick google search. 

[Tamberav]

I double checked and the LEDs are not true UV. They just have that name (for funzies) but are above the UV spectrum. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

I double checked and the LEDs are not true UV. They just have that name (for funzies) but are above the UV spectrum. 

I've always been worried about this. I literally have two lights over my tank in my bedroom, and the tank is less than six feet away from my foot if I were to lie down in bed. The spillover from the AI Prime is a lot compared to my R60, and at one time, I thought my headaches were attributed to the lighting. I still make it a point not to tilt my head up from my pillow and look up to avoid accidently staring at either light when I wake up in the morning. Just in case. 😕 

[Reefkid88]

9 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I've always been worried about this. I literally have two lights over my tank in my bedroom, and the tank is less than six feet away from my foot if I were to lie down in bed. The spillover from the AI Prime is a lot compared to my R60, and at one time, I thought my headaches were attributed to the lighting. I still make it a point not to tilt my head up from my pillow and look up to avoid accidently staring at either light when I wake up in the morning. Just in case. 😕 

 That whole situation just sounds terrible lol. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

 That whole situation just sounds terrible lol. 

It's worth the view though. Plus, the sound of rushing water in the room keeps me calm, reduces stress/anxiety and helps me sleep better. Can't have everything, I guess. 🤷‍♀️

[mcarroll]

18 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I've always been worried about this. I literally have two lights over my tank in my bedroom, and the tank is less than six feet away from my foot if I were to lie down in bed. The spillover from the AI Prime is a lot compared to my R60, and at one time, I thought my headaches were attributed to the lighting. I still make it a point not to tilt my head up from my pillow and look up to avoid accidently staring at either light when I wake up in the morning. Just in case. 😕 

I would take some measures to keep more of the light inside your tank instead of spilling out into the room for your eyeballs to bump into.

 

If you can lower the light, that could solve it.  Primes have 90º optics unless I'm mistaken....that means that your mounting height should be almost the same as the radius of that area you're lighting....maybe just a little less.  E.g. a 24x24" tank would have a "radius" of 12"....so your mounting height should be about 12" as well....maybe a little less.  If your light is above that level (calculated for your tank's dimensions), then that's why light is spilling into the room.

 

If the light is already as low as it can go for proper coverage, then that might mean that you have to get creative and fabricate some kind of deflector, or maybe even more than one deflector, depending on how many areas of the room you're typically in where you can see the light.  Definitely one deflector somewhere for the bedtime view.  Maybe more, dunno your situation.

 

(Lighting inside a canopy is one of the most ideal ways to do it, but rarely seems practical.)