29 gallon Glofish Tank questions

[Kathy F]

I am putting this tank together for my disabled 16 year old son who is visually impaired (bilateral optic nerve colobomas).   I have been looking at glo lights however they have terrible reviews.   Would the glo fish and decor glow under regular blue lights (like a reg tank light but on night setting)?  I need things to be bright, gaudy, high contrast with lots of movement to help him see what is happening.   In the past, he has enjoyed his 10 gallon male guppy tank but the guppies are going to retired to be my 40 breeder community tank so he can have his glotank with in view of his bed.   I'm open to suggestions the only thing that is certain is it will be a 29 gallon tank (space is tight and the tank & stand have already been purchased).   The fish he has shown interest in so far are the silver mollies, albino corydoras and the green glo tetras.  Since he wants the corydoras, I'm thinking of using 20/40 blasting sand.   I think the sand will be easier on them then the normal glofish type gravel.  Thoughts on a corydora friendly substrate that will work in a glotank?    

[Biotope Biologist]

glolights are terrible. Basically just rebranded black lights, and black lights are bad for all vision human or otherwise in the long term. I would suggest using a light that has a bunch of dark blue LED's. You will still want natural white LED's in them to provide normal fish behavior, but the blue will reflect off the glofish (tm) protein in their skin allowing for them to appear visually brighter.

 

As for substrate, white sand would likely be the best bet, I have seen people fleck in some brightly colored gravel to give contrast as well that stands out.

 

While there is some debate over whether gfps (green fluorescent proteins) are ethical, I choose to abstain from conversations of that nature. They have provided break through in scientific research including nocturnal marine behavior.

[Guppysnail]

Cory recently did a video about corydora in nature being on some pretty rough sharp substrate. Unfortunately I don’t remember which one. My panda Corydora and Corydora I have kept in the past (prior to me on the internet so didn’t know internet prescribed not to) have all done wonderfully and kept their barbles healthy so you might be able to do the normal glolight gravel should you choose. 

[sudofish]

Glofish get a bad rap due to being genetically modified. I can completely understand why you would want them in your case though. Honestly I wouldn't fret too much over substrate for corydoras. They aren't the delicate flowers that internet rumor has them out to be. They'll be fine with pretty much anything you'd consider using. I hope you get something nice set up for your son and he enjoys it.

Edited August 3, 2021 by sudofish

[Bonzabar]

On 8/3/2021 at 10:09 AM, Kathy F said:

I am putting this tank together for my disabled 16 year old son who is visually impaired (bilateral optic nerve colobomas).   I have been looking at glo lights however they have terrible reviews.   Would the glo fish and decor glow under regular blue lights (like a reg tank light but on night setting)?  I need things to be bright, gaudy, high contrast with lots of movement to help him see what is happening.   In the past, he has enjoyed his 10 gallon male guppy tank but the guppies are going to retired to be my 40 breeder community tank so he can have his glotank with in view of his bed.   I'm open to suggestions the only thing that is certain is it will be a 29 gallon tank (space is tight and the tank & stand have already been purchased).   The fish he has shown interest in so far are the silver mollies, albino corydoras and the green glo tetras.  Since he wants the corydoras, I'm thinking of using 20/40 blasting sand.   I think the sand will be easier on them then the normal glofish type gravel.  Thoughts on a corydora friendly substrate that will work in a glotank?    

Hi there!

I've kept Glofish ™️ for almost a decade. I initially used the "official" light that came with that tank kit before switching over to a nicrew light with a blue LED "moonlight" option. As far as I'm concerned I'm getting the same quality Glo experience with the nicrew light. I was only able to check it with the fish since I don't have any GLO decor anymore. However, I have a suspicion that blue LEDs are pretty standard hardware. I've never had any reason to believe official GLO lights were anything other than regular blue LEDs.

I'd be very picky about buying any GLO light decor, even official stuff, if you can't see how it works look under a blue LED. On the positive side I've had a lot of luck with regular glow in the dark decorations.

 

I hope that helps!

[Odd Duck]

I also think you would be fine using the Glo gravel for cories.  But I’ve also seen pics where people mixed a small amount of Glo gravel into black gravel and it’s very striking.  You could mix the Glo gravel into black sand and get that effect while still having sand for cories since they do enjoy rummaging in sand so much.