Hi

I Would welcome your opinions on whether reflective tape is very effective in the lighting hood, if so could you recommend a brand, please?

Are reflectors significantly better than the tape?

This is going into my Aqua One AR980 2 x new Arcadia 30W Natural light bulbs and a 25W purple Atman(?) bulb which I will replace when I do the taping or adding of reflectors.

Thank you in anticipation! TGWH

Will the tape stay on with the heat from the lights?

Thank you Alan! This is just the sort of thing I need to know.

The prospect of a whole pile of tape burnt on to my new flouro tubes is something I could do without.

Refectors then? I've only got 85W in a well-planted 215ltr tank (no CO2 yet, just Flourish Excel each day) and would like to get effective lighting over the 0.5W/1ltr mark, thought I could get the effect with better hood reflection. Maybe I should replace the purple light with something grunty? Can you get a T8 750mm "natural light" at 50W?

Kind Regards, TGWH

Although I have never done it you may be able to make a reflector from PVC pipe for instance and line it with aluminium foil using heat resistent adhesive, or paint it with heat resistent silver paint. I am sure there have been posts previously on this so someone should be able to help.

If you want more light, you may want to look at upgrading to T5 high output. Might be able to do a google, and find someone else who has done it before. You'd need to replace the light fittings and the ballasts, but you'd get more W/L and it'd be more efficient.

For reflectors, Switched on Gardner (www.sog.co.nz) sell Mylar which is very effictive. On my DIY setup I was a bit of a cheap-bum and got a roll of tin foil and some PVA (worked tho!).

Was also told by one of our local club members, that painting the inside of the hood gloss white worked well too.

I use mylar in one of my tanks, works great, just use double sided tape to stick it to the top of the tank. I think it was something like $30 for a roll of mylar which is enough for somewhere in the region of 2 billion tanks.

Hi, Alan, Ira and Spidey

Thank you for taking the time to share your expertise and experiences!

Kind Regards, TGWH

hey there,

I used those alluminium reflective tapes that you can get from bunnings like what I did. From my experience, the tapes were still stuck onto the lid when near the lights. But I only had 1 problem and that was water getting to them and causing the reflective bit to dissolve or disapear. But maybe because I did not have a glass lid in between the tank and the lights or reflectors. It may still be alright if there was a glass lid in between to stop condensation getting to the tape.

Go and check out the link on my sig. I have some pics of the lid with he tapes.

Hope this helps

If you have pvc pipe you wouldnt need to use foil would you because white reflexts light...

or am I missing something?

I think they use 100mm pipe and it is not white. I have a cabinet with flouros in the lid and I painted the inside white and it works well.

White reflects light sure, just not as well as finishes like mylar do.

Hi bOi, Alan, Spidey and Aquarium Dude

Thank you very much for your advice! The inside of the hood is white and so will look at attaching mylar.

Kind Regards, TGWH

here's what I did to my AR980, granted it was a conversion suitable for marine but could still apply to Freshwater I think.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/ar980-marine-conversion-lots-of-pics-of-the-process-vt18241.html

Hi RTBS

I'd seen your post - Incredible job!

If I decide to go "A+" I'll follow your example.

Kind Regards, TGWH

That thread is a nice example of modding the hood.

Dont know why more commercial hoods dont have multiple plugs on them, the idea of one plug and a bunch of little toggle switches on the hood is an insult IMO.

Gotta love how the T5s are slightly shorter so you actually can put 4 foot ones into a 4 foot tank.

dont know if its any help but i used tin foil & some wire mesh to make a shade to direct the light more towards the water instead of it lighting up the hood, seemed to work ok.

Also reflective tape reflects light back in the direction it came from, so it will be sending it right back into the tube, which is exactly where you don't want it.

If you cant make a good W shaped reflector you would be best off with a bright white surface.

Reflective tape would only reflect light directly back into the tube if it's perpendicular to the path of the light.

No, it has loads of tiny prisms on it, how else would you be able to see the reflection off the construction workers vest from your headlights from all angles?

Oh, that kind of tape...I thought we were still talking about mylar film type stuff.