MH Light Question - UV Transmission?
 

Are all MH bulbs protected from harmful UV light? The reason I ask is that I run bare XM 15000K bulbs with no cover on them over my downstairs tank.
I've never thought about it until I was on Ebay and they were advertising MH lights with UV protected screen (piece of glass I assume).
Just wondering :confused:

DE bulbs have NO UV protection. If the bulb is a Bulb inside a bulb, like the SE bulbs, then it has UV protection


FYI
DE=Dual End
SE=Single End

That makes sense. Thanks :biggrin:

SE bulbs have Some UV protection. You'll still get UVA (but not UVB or UVC) through the outer envelope, not enough to damage any livestock.

Ask nazerine about this...he fried pretty much a whole tank running bare DE bulbs before he found out what the problem was.

Never ever look directly at MH bulbs while they're on and try to minimize the amount of work you do under them. I know several people who have gotten nasty sunburns and eye damage working on their tanks while the MHs are on. Turn them off before working under them even with UV shielding.

The only problem with that is some of my tanks are in the same room I watch TV. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
And I work around my big tank a lot and turning MH bulbs on and off a lot shortens their life big time. Not to mention more wear and tear on the ballasts.