Will my tank glass be safe?

[kleonard17]

Hey all

New to the forum, but from what I read, this is the place to be!

So my situation... have a 6ft long, 145 gallon coral reef tank. have NASTY invasive corals that are killing my thousands of dollars of coral. They look like little anenomes and kill everything, and multiply QUICKLY .. quicky over taking and ruing your tank.

I have seen several threads from fellow reefers who have purchased lasers and kill them shotting them with lasers.

Most of them use 3 watt, (4 is the most I have seen) lasers and it does the trick.

This is the laser I ordered ... https://www.htpow.com/cheapest-high-power-10000mw-blue-laser-pointer-for-sale-p-1085.html

I am wondering if my tank glass will be safe. It is about an inch thick, and I will only have it set and pointing at the same spot for about 10 to 15 seconds.

I have a lot of pressure and water in this tank, and I know this may be a silly question, I just wantot make sure before I point a high powered laser at it.

thanks all... you guys rock!

 

[diachi]

First, yes, the glass will be fine. A 1W 445nm laser isn't going to damage 1" thick glass.

Second, you should have avoided Htpow, they falsify specs and overprice things. That laser will probably do ~1W and can be had on eBay for $50-60. There are no commercial 10W handheld lasers. If I were you I'd cancel the order, get a refund and order from somewhere that isn't out to rip people off.

Third, do you have suitable laser safety glasses? The light reflected from the glass of your tank is potentially powerful enough to cause eye damage.

 

[Encap]

Yes HTPOW is a garbage Chinese rip off web site that fraudulently represents products and overcharges for them--at best that laser will be 1000mW not 10,000mW --everything they sell has an extra zero added to the output power---is all BS

 

[Radim]

Welcome to LPF!

Check Sanwu, they might have what you are looking for. Do not forget to add proper eye protection to shopping cart with your laser.

Link: www.sanwulasers.org

R.

 

[10fenny]

You will have stray reflections for sure!! So third for safety glasses!! Make sure no one else is in the room. Got any fish in there? Don't wanna blind them either. Trying to kill some aptasia...? Lemon juice injection works too.. been there

 

[Radim]

You will have stray reflections for sure!! So third for safety glasses!! Make sure no one else is in the room. Got any fish in there? Don't wanna blind them either. Trying to kill some aptasia...? Lemon juice injection works too.. been there

^^^This

Lasers are not always the best solution - so try to ask on some "Aquarium Forums" as well to have more options of potential solutions. If you have many animals in tank, it might be easier to use something else than laser. You would need to put them in another tank in case of laser use.

 

[T_Warne]

Just to double check: Your tank is actually glass and not acrylic, right?

 

[NarwhalZ]

Hello,
Welcome to LPF .
Could you please make a welcome post in the welcome section and edit your location displayed on your profile from user CP? This allows members know you a bit better. (beat you to it Jerry )

I would also recommend getting a refund on that laser and purchasing something from Sanwu.

Remember to buy good safety goggles. Eagle pair OD6+ 190-540nm

 

[lasersbee]

It would be appreciated if you would introduce
yourself to the members in the Welcome section
so that members can learn a little about you.

It would also be helpful to members if you included
your Global location in your Profile...

Members are more likely to help someone they know
a little about.


Jerry

 

[18LJ]

I would say shine it thru the top thru the water (wear eye protection) Even if its only a watt or 2 its going to heat up a small spot of glass much quicker than the rest of the surrounding glass with liquid cooling one side of the glass. It might not crack normally but water is about 8 lbs/gallon i think and thats a lot of outward pressure on the glass...it could work without any thing going wrong but you could be courting disaster so...why risk it? Maybe a fiber optic cable could be reached into the tank if you had a lab unit vs a pointer. Also theres species of exotic colorful nudibranch sea slugs. Shrimp, and other sea invertebrates that eat only specific types of invasive corals and anemones you can order https://reeftown.com good luck save the coral reefs!

 

[Alaskan]

This smells like HMT thread, why use collimated light for such, if a wavelength of LED light would do the same thing?

 

[Cyparagon]

I would say shine it thru the top thru the wate

That won't work. The irregular water surface will refract the beam and make it unusable.

Even if its only a watt or 2 its going to heat up a small spot of glass much quicker than the rest of the surrounding glass with liquid cooling one side of the glass.

Bullshit.

If that were true, you would hear countless stories of people breaking windows by pointing laser through them.

This smells like HMT thread, why use collimated light for such, if a wavelength of LED light would do the same thing?

Admittedly, OP did a poor job of explaining himself, but there have been many threads on the subject already. Google aiptasia and laser. All will be made clear.

 

[CynicalBrad]

I am not aware of ANY case where lasers were successful in getting rid of those evil things. You leave one tiny piece behind and it will grow a new one and then spread with a vengeance. I'd be worried it would trigger some self preservation thing and make them reproduce even faster. Not sure if OP is referring to the dreaded Aiptasia or some other destructive pest but still seems like a bad idea even if no fish are in the tank when it is done.

 

[Alaskan]

Not going to search for more info on this subject, but if you had a tank which didn't have fish, if this isn't crazy and has worked some, I suppose this could be effective, if using a scanner setup to scan everything ever so often, to keep it at bay. If, if, if... that's a lot of them in that sentence.

 

[paul1598419]

I suppose someone could have a salt water tank for corrals only. Though, the upkeep on salt water aquariums is a PITA and most people have them to keep reef fish, which are so much more interesting than fresh water fish. There are many predators of corrals in the sea and with rising sea temperatures, they seem to not only thrive, but are taking over in many places like the Great Barrier Reef. I know that lasers have been used with success on some predators, but if this is not a troll, who knows what is attacking his corral.

 

[Alaskan]

From time to time we seem to have a laser savvy individual challenge us with questions, not sure this thread is that, but I wonder. Some questions appear to be semi-legit, bating a member to spout out their idea or post is BS fantasy or stupid only to find out it isn't completely so. i have my suspicions A long time member entertains himself with such questions, like the one where a guy wanted a minimum amount of divergence in a minimum diameter pointer at a certain power level, it was impossible with the current diode offerings, I am sure he well knew that, but it was food to get us all crunching numbers. Perhaps some of them are mere attempts to get us thinking, instead of outright trolling, while others are just that.

Too often threads are started by newbies lately who get us answering him and they never come back to remark, unless someone says they were trolling.