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[reefburnaby]

Hi,

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Won't happen.. Have you ever had the surface of your tank perfectly calm ALL the time? I haven't, Not with proper circulation in your tank you won't. Those "glitter" bands you see will move. Show me a tank where they don't move and I will show you a tank with not enough circulation.

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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.

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Why? Blow it at the waters surface and you will get the best cooling results through evaporation. Those running MH's or any high heat lighting in your hood will find this out. The amount of cooling you will get through cooling the reflector is so minimal in comparison to what you get from evaporation it is a waste of time and energy IMO IME. I have tried it. I am running the fans to blow across the H2O and will in any future systems. I recommend it to anyone running MH or experiencing heat problems in a tank.

Well...that wasn't quite what I was getting at....I was talking about the fact that shiny reflects warm up tank water faster than white reflectors. 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).

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>I can't understand the point of diffusing something that is supposed to provide point source lighting???? Agree 100% here.

If you want to diffuse your lighting and then compensate with more bulbs or lamps go for it. Most here are trying to save money where they can by DIY'ing the ballasts etc. You are shooting yourself in the foot by reducing what those lights put out with diffusing IMO.

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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.

- Victor.

[ 14 February 2002: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]</p>