MH and Eggcrate
- Thread starter robchuck
- Start date
robchuck
Active Member
And here is a shot showing how I currently have the eggcrate covering the tank. It was originally white, but I used the Krylon Fusion spray to paint it black. As I mentioned earlier, the light transmission through the eggcrate is about 20-25% less than it is without, so I plan to cut out a section below the MH to let more light through once the corals are all acclimated.
dskidmore
Active Member
Black eggcrate!?!? That's going to cut your light transmission even further. I don't have exact numbers, but white paint reflects something like 95% of the light that hits it, continuing to funnel the light downwards. Black paint absorbs most of the light that hits it.
It might look cool, but will likely make your tank a bit warmer.
It might look cool, but will likely make your tank a bit warmer.
crazy4reefs
Member
thank you very much for taking all the time to post the graphics and thank god you found the camera because the grahics did have me confused :notsure: i think i will try to do it about the same way your did yours, it looks great !! thank you again :yes:
crazy4reefs
Member
i have another question ? are you doing anything to vent the box with the MH ? also i may have missed it but what MH bulb did you go with..i was thinking about the 14k
robchuck
Active Member
Originally posted by DSkidmore
Black eggcrate!?!? That's going to cut your light transmission even further. I don't have exact numbers, but white paint reflects something like 95% of the light that hits it, continuing to funnel the light downwards. Black paint absorbs most of the light that hits it.
It might look cool, but will likely make your tank a bit warmer.
Part of the reason I painted the eggcrate black was to reduce light transmission at first. Everything in the tank was used to 175W MH, and I was worried about burning them with the 250W light. The amount of light blocked by the eggcrate was more than I anticipated, so that's why I'm now considering cutting a hole.
Also, asthetically speaking, I wanted everything above the top lip of the tank to be black.
robchuck
Active Member
Originally posted by crazy4reefs
i have another question ? are you doing anything to vent the box with the MH ? also i may have missed it but what MH bulb did you go with..i was thinking about the 14k
The box has a 4" fan drawing fresh air in.
The bulb I'm running is a PFO 13,000K. They don't make them anymore because they got horrible reviews. The bulb looks great, but doesn't put much PAR out, and I bought this bulb before I learned that. Another bulb to consider is the Coralvue 15,000K. I ran those at 175W on my old tank and was very pleased with them.
Lastly, if you decide to try this project, make sure all of your wood is pre-drilled and bolted very well. There is a lot of gravity working against this design so I made sure to over-engineer it.
crazy4reefs
Member
i have one more question, what size reflector did you use.. thanks again i appreciate all your help..
dskidmore
Active Member
Originally posted by RobChuck
Part of the reason I painted the eggcrate black was to reduce light transmission at first. Everything in the tank was used to 175W MH, and I was worried about burning them with the 250W light.
Well that makes sense, if you were _trying_ to cut light transmission.
robchuck
Active Member
Originally posted by crazy4reefs
i have one more question, what size reflector did you use.. thanks again i appreciate all your help..
I'm not quite sure on the exact size of the reflector, as I bought it used, but it's about the same size as any of the other parabolic MH reflectors I've used.
dskidmore
Active Member
Originally posted by DaveB
I saw some chrome eggcrate today at HD... would that help reflect more light?
I've never had luck with anything chromed staying chromed.
But yes, it would probably reflect more light than any colored surface. It's probably a bit better than white.