Using Rain-X on bulbs and lenses?

[L.Foley]

I'm aiming this at Richard or Dana,
I've been cleaning my MH glass lenses with Rain-X due to my Carlson Surge Devices creating a large volume of salt spray on them. I must say it works great. Bruce Davidson and I were conserned that the Rain-X might block out UV or some of the light spectrum. Does anyone have a guess? Its a super thin film, because you spray it on, then buff it off like car wax, but so it the film on your sunglasses, so it could block the UV considerably.

Any input would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Leland Foley
Mainstream Aquatics

 

[Anonymous]

Well, truth be told you want the UV end of the spectrum to be blocked, so that wouldn't be my concern. What I would wonder about is what is in this product, and could it possibly harm the animals. Barring anything that could wash off into the system, or outgas, I would bet it's alright. However, that's without knowing what really is in this product. Not knowing, I'd be careful. Why don't you write the manufacturer if there's no ingredient list on the labe and see what you can find out?

 

[L.Foley]

Truth be told,
Corals need a certain amount of UV-A and UV-B, so if this totally blocks them out, it would be a problem one would only notice in the corals after a few months or longer.
I called Rain-X and they said it does not block UV or any spectrum of light to their knowledge, it's just a water repellent. Sounds like they could care less and have never done any testing to me.

Leland Foley

 

[randy holmes-farley]

I would not think it to be a problem in any way, as long as you don't coat the bulbs themselves. The heat of a bulb may cause it to burn off, discoloring or at least smelling bad.