Black EggCrate?

[Lpabsolute]

Can you purchase black egg crate? If not has anyone ever painted it black to match the tank? I was thinking about doing this on my open top 54g. so that the white wont stand out to much. Any suggestions or ideas?

 

[Matt Rise]

Krylon Fusion?

 

[supertech3]

I have seen chrome and white only

 

[Dubbin1]

Yes you can paint it but you will get better light with the chrome or white.

 

[rlschne]

I painted mine before and besides it looking cool as far as matching all my other black equipment, it sucked really bad... Made a huge impact on the light the went through vs. just leaving it annoying bright white...

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

Stick with the white (anything else will absorb more light), and yes mine is ugly white too.

 

[143gadgets]

I know white is better for light, but black just loooks so cool.

 

[criccio]

Actually, the chrome finish is the best. This is not my study, and I apologize to the person who did it, as I don't remember where I copied this post from so I can't give proper credit...


Start of post:

"Hey guys! I have been following this thread cuz i was kinda curious myself. So i borrowed a lux meter from a local LFS and did some experimenting. I couldnt get an exact reading on my main tank cuz i could not exactly dip the sensor of the meter in the water. I was getting some strange readings. I wanted to get a reading with the sensor pointing towards the light. So i experimented on my fuge instead. The water level in the fuge is low enough where i can get the sensor down in the fuge where it wouldnt get wet. The sensor was centered on the light about 10 inces down. Im not a light expert so i think the measurements are in lux. (whatever that means)


Open top
139900

White eggcrate thin side down
111800

White eggcrate thin side up
129500

Reflective eggcrate thin side down
149000

Reflective eggcrate thin side up
170300

So it looks like if you have to use eggcrates, thin side up! Oh, the light is one of those 65watt flourex from Home Depot. Hope this helps a little."

 

[Lpabsolute]

Thanks for all of the info. Didn't think about the black absorbing that much light. I'm really not sure that i'm going to even go with egg crate since i like the open to look and would have to deal with tanking the egg crate off everytime i wanted to do something inside my tank, but thanks for the insight.

 

[raskal311]

what do you men thin side? isn't both side the same?

 

[aquaman67]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6815579#post6815579 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raskal311
what do you men thin side? isn't both side the same?

If you look at the squares, one side has a larger opening that the other. The sides taper in (or out) slightly.

It's not a huge difference, but there is a difference between the two sides.

They are actually shaped like a trapeziod like this.

 

[mdt178]

Be aware that the thin coat of reflective material will wear down when exposed to splashing or saltcreep. Nobody can be sure whether the silver flake is harmful, but I stop using the silver eggcrate for another reason:
I think it's plausible that you can get a higher lux when you're directly below the light since the tapered design allow light to be focused downward. However, as you move further from the center/light more light will be blocked., so you get much less light on the sides compared to an open top.

 

[aquaman67]

I read the silver is actually chrome, like metal chrome.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=771978&highlight=chrome