Importance of Reflectors?

[Hotrod32487]

I recently bought some compact flourecents where the reflectors had been cut and mis-shapen for some reason. Question is, how important are these? and if they are important, what meterial should i use to replace them?

[apedroza]

If your interested I have some reflector materials taht I got from someon who works as an electrican. They're about 4"wide and 24-36" long. They work great with PC if you want it your welcome to it jsut come by and pick it up. I live in San Marcos.

[Instar]

Highly mirrored reflectors increase the light available to the tank significantly and are very beneficial. New bulbs are also very beneficial and bulbs should be replaced regularly if you keep corals. Old bulbs shift spectrum and become less useful over time. I write the in service date on my bases so I can figure out when to replace them. Use mirror finish high grade aluminum or similar.

[apedroza]

Larry is absolutely correct. Highly polished aluminum reflects the greatest amount of light. The reflectors I have are excellent reflectors if your interested theyre yours.

[caferacermike]

I have to say that proper reflectors are a necessity. I bought what I thought was a great MH setup. 48" with 2 150w bulbs. I never even thought about the fact that the reflectors were 6"x6" and at complete opposite ends of the tank. I decided to upgrade the fixture to 250w bulbs and had to remove the old reflectors to do so. The new reflectors are 12"x6". WOW what a difference it made. The entire tank was so much brighter. I did a comparison to make sure it wasn't just the brighter bulbs. I placed the pieces of aluminum I cut away over the glass shields. I could now see a definite 12" wide black path in the middle of the tank. I realized then that I could have probably gone my entire life using the 150's had they had a nicer reflector.

[Hotrod32487]

PM sent. I would love to get those reflectors. Just outta curiousity, could regular alluminum be polished? Also, any tips on installing them? Like common problems people have or common mistakes made?

[cpreefguy]

I bought regular aluminum from HD once and made a reflector. I polished it for a looong time and it was no where near as shiny as polished reflectors that you can buy.

[reefguy210]

that begs the question: where is a good place to buy reflectors online? im about to undertake a lighting upgrade project and i know how important a good reflector can be. im going to switch to metal halide incase i decide i want to do SPS corals sometime.

[LoneStar]

Just outta curiousity, could regular alluminum be polished?


I just depends on the TYPE of aluminum you buy. You can be there all day polishing it like Sean said and not really get anywhere ;)

www.reefexotics.com

Lumenarc III Reflector retro fit
http://reefexotics.com/lumenarc.jpg

By far some of the best reflectors I have seen on the market yet. You can get them in the standard size, and also a mini size now. They are a little expensive but a very comparable in price to pendants.