Lighting question, can't afford reflectors

[thatguy]

I have 2x175w MH. They are in one of those big black metal things that hang over the tank. The inside is painted white. I don't have money to buy reflectors, so I was thinking of lining the interior of the housing with foil or some other reflective material.

I wanted to know if this would be any better or worse than the white paint?

 

[hahnmeister]

just leave the white and save up. White paint is a very good reflector, FWIW, and the major benefit of the reflector isnt so much the material as it is the geometry. A aquare box isnt going to do much for you no matter what the material its lined with. You really want something parabolic to focus the light downwards.

Sure you cant afford a basic spider reflector? Im sure someone here would even have one for sale... cheap. These are a mere $20 each... loads better than a box...
http://www.hellolights.com/pare.html

 

[BurntOutReefer]

leave the white as its almost the best reflector......(IMO).

 

[thatguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9046990#post9046990 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
just leave the white and save up. White paint is a very good reflector, FWIW, and the major benefit of the reflector isnt so much the material as it is the geometry. A aquare box isnt going to do much for you no matter what the material its lined with. You really want something parabolic to focus the light downwards.

Sure you cant afford a basic spider reflector? Im sure someone here would even have one for sale... cheap. These are a mere $20 each... loads better than a box...
http://www.hellolights.com/pare.html

Oh, in that case I guess I could. What is the LFS doing asking $125? Granted the ones they have are much larger and all four sides are angled down... but it's still just bent metal.

thanks

 

[hahnmeister]

And the ones with the mogul sockets attached are just $10 more each if it makes things more simple for you. But yeah... $20 each is hard to beat. By the time you get done lining the box with whatever, the time and money Im sure would go beyond that.

The larger, 4-sided or enclosed pendants are more money, but you can get just the reflector alone and be set.