# Glowing background?



## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

I thought for sure I was seeing things but the background in one of my tanks has a weird eerie glow to it. It is very faint-you have to give it a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. What could this possibly be?


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

What is the background made from?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Maybe some fox fire fungi growth? Can you see the actual/specific material that is emitting the glow, or are your eyes just detecting a faint overall glow?


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Oops I should mention it is a clay background.

A few patches seem to glow-I don't think it is a specific material giving off the glow.

I was thinking some sort of bioluminescent mold-but am unsure how common these are.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Has no one else seen this before? It is pretty eerie(and yes, it is still going).

~Joseph See


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

Take a camera and turn off the lights hold it still (IE mount it or secure it to something so it will not move at all) Take 1 picture with lights on. 

Then set the exposure as high as it will go and turn off the flash and take a picture. See if you can capture the light . If you see it with no light it could be some bioluminescence. If you see with light on that would be fairly surprising would have to be pretty dense. 

Either integrate the 2 pictures in your preferred photoediting program or upload them untouched and someone here will do it for you.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Hmm...I'm not quite following

pic 1
tank light on, camera flash on

pic 2
tank light off, exposure set high, flash off?


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## ndame88 (Sep 24, 2010)

How about some glow stones?

GLOW Stones USA solar driveway


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## simonphelps (May 29, 2012)

Do you have a dslr or a camera that can take long exposures?

If so put your camera on a tripod

turn your camera lens to manual focus and focus it to the background with the lights on.

Have the setting on the camera body on manual (M)

Set the exposure rate to 10 seconds 

Put ISO at 1600




Then Turn your lights off and take multiple photos with the "f" stop at different settings 4-22 (or whatever the camera has available)

This should help us all see the glow you are talking about


If you need more instructions because you aren't a camera guy let me know and I can continue detailed instructions


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

Dendrobait said:


> Hmm...I'm not quite following
> 
> pic 1
> tank light on, camera flash on
> ...


Correct

and if you want to add a measure see if you can find a black light and take a third picture with only black light illumination.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Thanks guys! Will give this a shot in the next few days.

It is definitely the clay. Last night it was quite vivid(my eyes could pick it up only after a few seconds of turning out the tank lights). A couple black patches were where moss mix had been pressed into the background and failed to grow due to the bg never being quite moist enough for long enough.


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