plywood reflector??

blackthunda77

blackthunda77

New member
Now that i have your attention, has anyone tried a DIY reflector? i want to get rid of my current ones, its just too big, are there any ways to make one, with maybe suplies from homedepot or something. i was even thinking to make a shape or fram out of plywood or 1x1's and attaching or glueing those mirror squares you can find at craft stores to it. any input? i also posted this in the lighting forum but thought maybe id get more hits on here....mods, you can move it if you have to.....
 
Believe it or not, mirrors are not very good reflectors. They absorb a good deal of the light. Highly polished aluminum is probably about the best you're going to get. The companies that sell reflectors also put a good deal of effort into coming up with the optimum design to get the most light directed back at your tank instead of to the back of the bulb. I'm sure you could make your own reflector, but unless you're part physicist/part engineer, it's not going to be nearly as effective as something you buy. I'd just look to buy something smaller. Of course, you'll probably lose some coverage.
 
I've been tinkering with this in my head as well. It's not a bad idea. We have 12'-0" presses here at work that could form just about anything.

Even a "base" with a layer of tinfoil (the shiny side) should make a big difference.
I think it'd do-able. the problem is getting something that isn't affected by the heat of the bulbs.

Is there any link to a supplier for 48" (4) bulb reflectors?
 
The problem with aluminum foil or flashing is that you're not going to get the same level of reflectivity. Then there's the matter of probably not achieving the correct geometric design to optimally direct the light. Is it better than no reflector at all? Absolutely. Is it good enough? Maybe. It depends on what good enough is. If I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars on a fixture, though, I want to get as much bang for my buck as possible.
 
Check out this page:
http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/e...HTML/DIY_Reflector/DIY_Reflector_Drawings.htm

You could easily build one out of almost any material and paint it white. If I'm not mistaken, I've read that reflective aluminum has 98% reflectivity and a flat white surface has 95% reflectivity. The design is based on the lumenarc reflectors (same shape, not quite the same dimensions) so you're pretty much guaranteed a halfway decent reflector for the money.
 
The problem with using white paint for a reflector is that under the heat from a MH lamp, it turns yellow pretty quickly and then eventually starts to peel.
 
I made a diy canopy for my two single end 250mh. used plywood and lined the inside with reflective aluminum tape. i think it said it was good to 600 deg. its not a luminarc reflector but it still works just fine for me. its about 3 1/2 feet long and 1 ft wide or so. for cooling i took the fans out of a K & N air filter display and put them in the top. lots of cooling from those guys. aluminum tape from H D works just fine. good luck
 
oh yeah one more thing it does get a bit warm for the glue. I havent had any tape lift yet but i also have some short wide screws holding the tape in place where fire could be an issue. just to be safe :)
 
I just set something like this up last nite over my new 29 gallon. I used aluminum flashing. I am using a 400 watt Halide over a 29 gallon tank so I am not super concerned with losing to many lumens. My only concern was that the wood gets pretty hot on my canopy. I screwed the flashing directly to the wood. Should I have left some space beween the wood and metal? Should I have used some sort of buffer material in between?
 
I have been doing a little more searching and thinking that I should have used some sort of spacer to create about a 1/2 inch of space between. Any suggestions on a material?
 
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