what do you think about....

[picoreefguy]

lining the inside of the canopy with a space blanket? now before you laugh, think about it. its a very cheap, plastic, highly reflective material that would be super easy to install and it could help cut down a little bit on light waste by reflecting the light bouncing around the canopy back and fourth until it ends up in the tank, so instead of it getting absorbed by the canopy walls or spilled out into the room it could get used by coral. while i know that i cant expect any crazy results, heck even if the results arent noticable, it seems like a waste not to considering that i can get enough material to completely cover the inside of my canopy from one space blanket and they cost less than 2 dollars on average.

 

[dball711]

I don't like is the space blanket possibly retaining heat. I don't like is the space blanket possibly retaining heat. I think that painting the inside white might achieve the same results. I do have some large rolls of sticky reflective material if you'd like to try that. I do like your train of thought though.

 

[j_b_]

No laughter here, I appreciate outside-the-box thinking...it's a matter of risk vs. reward

<u>Risk:</u> Add material that could potentially be a fire risk

<u>Reward:</u> Maybe capture/reflect a bit of spilled light

I painted the inside of my canopy with a brilliant white paint, and it appears to me to reflect the light a bit better. That's just my personal observation though, I have not tested it in any way.

 

[genesis]

Heavy duty aluminum foil. Shiny side

 

[jennm]

dball711 beat me to it - I'd be concerned about heat. Those blankets insulate. If you have a chiller and don't mind it working harder - then it might be an option - and yes do check if the material is flammable too - that's a concern too.

Jenn

 

[picoreefguy]

i had thought about heat as well before i posted and while it would be a problem for someone with mh or t5, heat wont be too much of a concern for me, im running 2 radions and they max out at 20% intensity, so the addition of heat via the lights will be minimal. also im going to add 1-2 computer fans on the slot at the back of my canopy to blow air in and the radions blow it out so that will act as extra cooling.

as far as fire safety goes i hadn't taken that into consideration. i did however look up the data sheet from dupont and they claim its melting point is 254 degrees celcius which is 490F!!! these are made of mylar by the way, i forgot to mention that in the first post, but space blankets were first designed to go into space to reflect sunlight away from the spacelab space station and they handled several hundred degrees of heat without even melting much less burning so i dont think itll be an issue in an aquarium that never gets over 90. before taking this any further though, ill go out and buy one and test it to see how flammable it really is.

 

[myreefclub0070]

before taking this any further though, ill go out and buy one and test it to see how flammable it really is.

Dame pyro!

I like it but I would also wonder if you would get mostiure up behind the blanket and canopy.
Not saying no, but I would go with paint, maybe even paint and glitter!
Now that's outside the box.....lol

 

[picoreefguy]

MYREEFCLUB0070;1043992 wrote: before taking this any further though, ill go out and buy one and test it to see how flammable it really is.

Dame pyro!

I like it but I would also wonder if you would get mostiure up behind the blanket and canopy.
Not saying no, but I would go with paint, maybe even paint and glitter!
Now that's outside the box.....lol

ya gotta do what ya gotta do lol. i dont think moisture will be an issue. if i do it ill use spray adhesive and use a credit card to flatten and smooth it out so there wouldnt be any room behind the mylar for the moisture to get to.

 

[rdnelson]

Moisture will migrate guaranteed. Even with Radions I would anticipate some heat build up.

As for light gain, I would help the appearance the eye but I don't think you would get much usable benefit for coral growth. Seems to me the better solution would be to go from 20% power to 25% power if your goal is better usable light. JMO

 

[picoreefguy]

rdnelson99;1044001 wrote: Moisture will migrate guaranteed. Even with Radions I would anticipate some heat build up.

As for light gain, I would help the appearance the eye but I don't think you would get much usable benefit for coral growth. Seems to me the better solution would be to go from 20% power to 25% power if your goal is better usable light. JMO

well the goal isnt more usable light its less light waste, a small chunk of it gets absorbed by the canopy walls and into the room and i was just thinking about how to cut down on that. my canopy is already white so it does reflect a good bit of the light but even white surfaces will absorb some.

 

[i_luv_coral]

Space blanket is not as reflective as mylar.

I'm not laughing at you, mylar works very well at 98% reflectivity and it will definitely put more par into the tank.

How much idk, every application is different, but the fire hazard will be minimal. If the tank is going to burn and catch the house...it will burn and catch the house.

A gfic is the best defense if you want to try this route or just have a tank without it.

 

[picoreefguy]

I_luv_coral;1044029 wrote: Space blanket is not as reflective as mylar.

I'm not laughing at you, mylar works very well at 98% reflectivity and it will definitely put more par into the tank.

How much idk, every application is different, but the fire hazard will be minimal. If the tank is going to burn and catch the house...it will burn and catch the house.

A gfic is the best defense if you want to try this route or just have a tank without it.

space blankets are made of mylar that has been coated with a thin layer of aluminum so its actually more reflective than mylar alone.

 

[snowmansnow]

I don't feel like the yield would be great enough to justify the trouble IMO