Hello!

I noticed that each time I buy a fish, they always change colors when taken home, after a couple of months. I suspect this could be because a house kept tank doesn't receive enough sunlight and the fish just becomes pale as melanocytes are not activated to work...

I bought a lamp that is said to produce some UV needed by the plants, and I think it might help fishies keep their original color ^__^ The question is how to put the lamp over the tank and make sure that glass doesn't absorb the UV?

My tank is just covered with glass and the lamp is put on it. Does plexi or plastic absorb the UV light as glass does? Maybe a plexi cover could let the UV pass and protect the lamp from water at the same time? Do you have any experience in such construction? Can you help me invent something to make sure the light gets to the fishies? *__*

Thank you in advance! All advice would be really welcome! ^__^

I am not sure if the glass or plexi would absorb the UV, but if you are unsure, you can construct your tank cover with just egg crates. The come in a sheet of 2ft by 4 ft, Ibelieve, and I find mine at HomeDepot in the light bulb isle. Its basically nothing like white hard plastic, that looks like a net. You can cut it to the size of your tank, so it would fit snuggly as a tank cover. The UV would reach the water with this kind of tank top.

Now, thats a good idea! ^__^ I would also need to secure all metal parts of the lamp, because sprinkling water could damage them and make them rust... I shall look for such plastic net around...

Also I came to idea of another construction, here is a picture:

I thought about cutting a window in the glass cover, so that only the glowing part of lamp is over water and the rest is hidden (I would also add some paper isolation to make sure water doesn't reach the electrical parts).

Hmmm.. I will think about it all again and I will let you know how it works when I try something! ^__^

Oh, also I need to find a light bulb that would produce UV... I think that such lamps made for aquarium plants contain UV in their spectrum ^.^ Gotta check...

Thank you again for your idea!!! ^O^