Mirror

[DJ88]

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Glittering only shifts the light by a limited amount. There will always be a case where a specific area in your tank is not as well lit as others.

The glitter lines in my tank shift quite a lot. It is noticeable enough that it is almost hypnotic. With proper circulation and movement of the water in your tank you get a fair bit of light movement throughout the area of the tank being covered by the MH. The gliter lines don't sit still that is for sure. The surface water in my tank is very convoluted and moving constantly. Which also moves the lines of intensity constantly.

And of course there is areas that aren't as well lit as others. If you want the same coverage throughtout put multiple lights and/or a reflector to focus the light. This will also be dependant upon the shape of your tank.

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The heat that isn't transfer to the water is stored on the painted reflector -- which can be removed by fans (think of it as a heatshink).

It is a heat sink. But removing that heat from it isn't nearly as efficient as putting a fan that is hitting the waters surface. I have tried. And had planned on doing this on my next tank until I found the best way to remove heat was not to hit the reflector with a fan but blow air across the water.

As an aside unless you had the fan directly(within a few cm's) of the reflector it, like water out of a pump, loses velocity which will aid in cooling. Once you get any distance away from the reflector the speed at which the air is passing over the reflector and pulling away the heat stored is minimal. IMO. On my 45 with a 24"x24" hood I may get some benefits from this. On anything larger I don't see it benefitting heat removal. Even with my smaller hood, I will still go with the fan on the water. If it works better(more efficiently) why not use it?

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Reflector design is still more important than diffuse vs specular. A well design diffuse reflector would outperform a poorly design specular reflector -- regardless if it is a line source, point source and a diffused source.

I know that but my point with the statement

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If you want to diffuse your lighting and then compensate with more bulbs or lamps go for it.

was if you are specifically buying point source lighting to get the intensity that corals need and thrive on, why would someone want to diffuse it?????? If you are going to waste the money like that send it my way. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

All you need to do is look at this graph.



Look at how reflective white paint or flashing is. Then look at aluminum. I can't imagine how much light I am losing as I HAD to go with white paint. I can't wait to throw that reflector sitting in my new tank on and measure the lumens again. Nuff said.

Anyone still want to diffuse point source lighting? Send me the cash you were gonna spend on MH and I'll send you some NO ballasts. Equal trade IMO. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[ 15 February 2002: Message edited by: DJ88 ]</p>