bioluminescent in my sand bed!

[LVMAS]

Hello World!

I just wanted you to know, that it is possible to get bioluminescent in your reef. I have them in my DSB They can be seen at night by disterbing the sand bed (gentally).

Im not sure its very common however you may just want to take a quick look tonight.

FYI - I have VERY small sand smaller than sugar-size

[matrixnyc]

Not to sound like i don't believe you, but don't bioluminescent creatures only appear in deep Sea?

What type of tank do you have?

[LVMAS]

You can ask other people in my reef club who I have traded sand with sometime I suppose. but to answer your question. NO I would say the are not all from the very deep oceans. :)

Because THERE THEY ARE!

[matrixnyc]

I guess i wil have to take your word on it.

Just find it amazing that you have it going on in your tank :)

Thats all.

What type of tank do you have?

Can I see a photo of the tank

[danielmiller82]

Doesn't have to be deep sea. I live in Pensacola, FL. and sometimes at night when its really dark...when you walk down the beach...your footprints light up. What causes this and what is probably in your tank is Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates. (http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCourses00/MarineEcologyArticles/WhatsGlowingInTheWaterBio.html) These are very common in the ocean..and therefor might have found there way into your tank.

[Leoskee]

Definitely not only from the deep. I travelled to the Bioluminescent Bay in Puerto Rico. You can see the water light up as the boat broke the surface of the water. The interesting thing was that you could see them but the light would not show up on camera or video. You need special lenses.

They used to let people take a dip in the water until a shark attacked a person. That had to be scary as hell because the tours run at night only.

http://www.biobay.com/

[DrPhips]

Astronaut Jim Lovell was guided safely home during a aircraft test gone wrong by bioluminescent algae.

In the Spring of 1950's then pilot Jim Lovell was practising his first night flight from an aircraft carrier off the coast of Japan. To cut a long story short the aircraft carrier was showing no lights for a landing and Jim Lovell, as a result of an accident in his cockpit, loses his instruments needed to land back on the carrier but not The Right Stuff, of course. This is the interesting part:-

"Lovell took the penlight out of his mouth, switched it off, and scanned the darkness. Down below him at about two o'clock, he thought he noticed a faint greenish glow forming a shimmering trail in the black water. The eerie radiance was barely visible and would have been lost to Lovell altogether had the blackness in the cockpit not acclimatised his eyes to the darkness. But the sight of it made his heart leap. He was certain he knew what the strange radiance was: a cloud of phosphorescent algae churned into luminosity by the screws of the cruising carrier. Pilots knew that a spinning propeller would light up organisms in the water, and this could help them locate a missing ship. It was one of the most least reliable and most desperate methods of bringing a lost plane home safely, but when all else failed it could sometimes do the trick. Lovell told himself that all else had indeed failed, and, with a fatalistic shrug he peeled off in pursuit of the dim green streak."

-- thanks to shoarns.com for the quote

[santeria]

i also have bioluminescence in my tank. after a few hours in total darkness, i gently shake the base of my tank. the vibration sets off the critters and they randomly blink bluish green light.