My tank glows!

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I live on the sugar white sand beaches of Florida. One year (when I was much younger), my brother brought me to the beach to observe something he had never seen before. The Phosphorus on the beach (right where the water was lapping and then receding) lit up like little stars that glowed for about 3 seconds then faded. When we ran our fingers across this area some of them would light up and fade. What the Radio Newscaster reported to us the next day was that the Phosphorus was part of a living organism (probably small Jellyfish) (I did not see nor feel any jellyfish when we were observing this). But that this process needed Oxygen to release the Luminesence. Perhaps what you have is what is called Chemiluminescence. I have heard that this happens frequently in the abyssal plains on the deepest ocean floors.
Another form could be bioluminescence, which happens in only in living organisms. Firefly being one, but many marine organisms glow. Salt water is a very chemically active environment, so I would imagine this would lead to many strange occurances.

Did you buy one of my Overstocked Tanks? perhaps you got one of my experimental tanks (Peyote Buttons and Mushroom Spores) the addition of Pharmacutials might be enhancing more than the fish.

Anyways, enjoy the Light Show and keep us abreast of any new developments.
 
KaiserJeep;2675531; said:
If you have ever ridden in a boat on salt water at night, you have seen the phosphorescent trail caused by the mechanical stirring of the water by the propellor. I have seen such phosphorescent wakes from aircraft as well - you see a large glowing green triangle that is brightest right around the stern of the boat.

On two occasions - one a warm tropical night on the South Pacific island of Guam, and once on Nantucket (a Northern island wrapped in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream) I have also seen such glows in the surf. I believe these are caused by phosphorescent plankton.

I find it entirely believable that a colony of such plankton could get established in a tropical saltwater tank in the sand substrate. I believe such will be very hard to photograph, because I have only observed these faint green glows on moonless nights.
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I totally agree on the theories of underwater organisms. I was mainly arguing about the sand on the beach glowing.

But i still have never seen/heard of this happening in a tank other then worms that where easily visible to the naked eye. Its too hard to culture pretty much any sort of plankton in a tank and keep it stable, i doubt he somehow magically got a perfect balance that lives in his gravel making it glow but doesnt overrun his whole tank.

Im happy enough to believe its true if someone can find some logical basis for it but considering the net finds nothing that can explain it ille stick with my theory of drugs or trolling.
 
Without offering any form of judgement about the original claim of glowing sand, there is one thing I must remark upon.

The virtual world of the Internet is NOT REALITY. The presence or lack of any reference to a glowing sand phenomenon is totally meaningless. The Internet citizens run the gamut from those who are attempting to establish unimpeachable online encyclopedias containing the sum of human knowledge to those who seek to publish pure fiction, or even those whose goal is the malicious subversion of the efforts of those who seek to establish knowledge bases.

For the forseeable future one should never accept anything read in the virtual world as fact unless it can be confirmed by independant sources. Nor should one refuse to accept real human observations because they cannot be confirmed in the virtual world. This report is what it is - a person has reported an observation. Whether the observation is factual or not, it would make no difference whether or not a photograph were offered as proof. For example, lighting could be supplied under the glass bottom of an aquarium to make translucent sand glow. Or real phosphorescent creatures unrecorded by Science might be present in that tank. Or any of dozens or hundreds of other explanations might explain the phenomenon.

If the original report was factual, the person reporting it may possibly have an opportunity to discover a new species of microrganism and advance the sum of human knowledge. No matter how many words get typed in this thread, we can never be sure where the truth lies. Such is the world of cyberspace.
 
Sorry for the trouble mods. Didnt realise joking about the d word was that big a deal. Maybe if something was done about all the T words we wouldnt police it ourselves.

And again i agree, the internet shouldnt be the only thing considered but do you really realise how much information is on here? If you know what your looking for anything thats "real" can easily be found on there somewhere.

And what do we have from him on his side ? Him saying "my sand glows". Wow what a huge piece of factual information there that ought to teach us alot. And while i agree taking pictures can be faked it gives us something to judge for ourselves and proves he is confident enough in what he saw that he will take the time too take and post a pic.
 
Did i miss something? profanity perhaps?
 
When I was in Gales Point Manatee Preserve in Belize last summer all you had to do was move your hand around in the water and it would start glowing.
 
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