UV Night Dive??

[gert7to3]

"Looks blue..." If you think this based upon what you see, think again. The bulbs are not perfect u/v sources. There is going to be some bandwidth spread in deep blue to violet visible light. You cannot see the u/v emission. This because your corneas and lenses absorb u/v to protect your retinas.

 

[LarsB]

See my posting in this thread for a description and pictures of another (more powerful) diving lamp ("UK Sunlight C4 eLED") with UV LEDs (Nichia NCSU033B).

 

[Bas Noij]

The lights we have been using for several years now with great success are not pure UV. They are Blue in a wavelength that has been tested for maximum marine life fluorescence. Combined with the right mask filter you get spectacular effects.

 

[LarsB]

The lights we have been using for several years now with great success are not pure UV. They are Blue in a wavelength that has been tested for maximum marine life fluorescence. Combined with the right mask filter you get spectacular effects.

Which wavelength (or spectrum of wavelengths) is that?
Thanks!

 

[lionfish-eater]

Lars- the specific wavelengths used in the Night Sea products are the result of much research and experimentation. The specific combination is what makes the equipment the best there is. Since you seem like a competant DIY guy, perhaps you can get access to an optics lab and experiment yourself. Or you could not try to reinvent the wheel and you could support the inventor and purchase a package. I did because I believe in supporting the intellectual property of individuals who develop innovative ideas into quality products. This is really cool stuff!

 

[naimis]

...or you could search the web for green fluorescent protein, and you'd find in probably a variety of sources that there is a primary excitation wavelength at 395nm, and a secondary at 475nm. Some will have a single excitation peak at 498nm.

"inventor".. heh.

 

[LarsB]

Hm, who said that there was only GREEN fluorescent protein to be seen under water?

What are the excitation wavelengths of the other fluorescent biological tissues that can be found under water?

The texts you cited speak about the use of GFP (and its derivatives) in microbiological laboratories, the first GFP to be used having been extracted from a jellyfish.

But these texts are not at all about corals, anemones, fish and other animals which are capable of fluorescence and which we are interested in as divers...

 

[naimis]

Hm, who said that there was only GREEN fluorescent protein to be seen under water?

I believe red and green are the only naturally occurring fluorescent proteins. Chromophores of other wavelengths have been synthesized, however, you're not likely to see them in the open ocean, at least until the fish tank folks start dumping their genetically engineered fish into the ocean, like the lion fish...

I leave it up to the reader and google to find out the details of the rest

 

[farsidefan1]

I'm not able to get technical with you but I have been on the dive with Bas on Bonaire. It was SPECTACULAR! We went in at twighlight and switched to the "uv" after full dark. A whole new appreciation of the ocean.

 

[LarsB]

I've seen a few posts about UV night dives but have yet to see any details. Are they offered through dive shops? Is it something that you do on your own. It looks like a VERY cool dive. Any info you guys have is greatly appreciated.

Operators who offer fluorescence night dives seem to be sparse.

I found a list of operators in the following article in a French online diving magazine:

http://www.plongeur.com/
http://www.plongeur.com/magazine/telechargement/ (Télécharger le numéro #1)
pages 55-58 of 62 (page numbers according to Adobe Reader), or pages 108-115 (page numbers at the bottom of each page)


You can of course also build your own light, based on the "Underwater Kinetics UK Sunlight C4 eLED" for instance this is pretty much straightforward, just replace the white LEDs with UV (365nm) or blue LEDs (450nm) of 3W power each (glue them with e.g. Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive).

Or see this posting for a list of manufacturers.

Good luck!