Dangers of hanging lamp (no canopy)

[evoracer]

On my local reef club forum I had mentioned my intention to run canopy-free on my current project. It was speculated that the hanging lamp may be a danger for my 1.5 year old son. Not that he can touch it, but that the direct light (if he were to stand up next to the tank) may be harmful in the way of UV. For the record I plan on using a single 250W DE bulb with a UV glass shield on the reflector. Anyone know of the relative UV from a bulb under these conditions compared to every-day sunlight (or other) exposure?

[OwenInAZ]

I don't know the exact numbers offhand, but I'd wager it's exceedingly high. When I'm working in my tank (2x 400W MH) if I'm under them too long I get sunburned on the back of my neck. Of course, those are retrofitted without any shielding, so who knows for sure in your case.

However, if he's out at the beach all day long, maybe he's acclimated ;)

[coralnut99]

I know it's not very easy on my eyes when I'm below tank height and look up at the tank and get all that glare back at me. I don't have any numbers here either, but he would have to stare at the light bleeding over the edge of the tank quite a bit to cause a problem. Besides at a year and a half, the attention span is measured in nano-seconds, lol!

[evoracer]

True. I am more worried about skin exposure to the light if he were to camp out next to the tank. I don't think he will stare at the light, he is old enough to know when something hurts.

[coralnut99]

OK, understood. I think we've both read the stories about guys getting sunburned from working under their halides, so if your little guy is fair-skinned, I guess the risk is certainly there. Unless he's that fair in complexion that wouldn't be my concern at his age. I'd be more concerned about him staring into the glare of the bulb from down below.

[Maivortex]

UV light does not pass thru glass. If you have a glass shield you will be ok. If this remains a concern you can purchase a spectroradiometer and measure it. You can try holding transition eyeglass lenses below the light and see if they get dark.