light through glass

[I'mRisenAquaRat]

Does anyone know what effect there is on light intensity when it goes through glass? I have T5s very close (top of the tank level) to my water. For safety, I have glass under them. The rest of the tank is open.

Is it better to raise the lights and remove the glass?

 

[playa0069u]

I had the same thing with pc's, take the glass off and see if gets brighter lol. how thick is it.

 

[I'mRisenAquaRat]

Very thin, normal glass top.

 

[alizarin]

Salt creep on the glass effects it much more than the glass itself and even that doesn't seem like a big deal to my eye.

 

[I'mRisenAquaRat]

Yeah, I can't visually "see" the difference.

 

[playa0069u]

i wouldnt relly worry about it dude, I had a light setup with just a 65 watt pc over a glass top, BUT it was only a piece of a glass top, i would suggest that you didnt cover the whole top, for air reasons.

 

[GreyHawk1968]

Glass tops reflect about 30% of the "useable" light. Though it may not look like it makes a difference it does. The spectrum is affected. Exactally how I don't know but I have read articles concerning such. If you are concerned about the lights getting water on them I would raise the fixture another inch above the water and take out the glass tops. That's just my suggestion .
It also depends on what you are keeping in the tank. Most low to moderate light corals probably wouldn't be affected by the glass tops but higer light demanding corals may.

 

[I'mRisenAquaRat]

30%. Wow. That is significant. I have softies that do just great. But, I recently (2 months) ago got a anemonie. I'm not certain how he is doing. The jury is still out for me whether it is due to the lights or not.

I'll have to experiment.

Thanks.

 

[CMcNeil]

you can use acrylic instead of glass.acrylic is better at light transmission.