Mirror mounted on hood.

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Hello,

I am farily new to the hobby and this question has probably been asked
before, but I shall ask it again. I just finished building a custom
canopy with two 96 PC light fixtures built in. Each light has its own
reflector and the canopy has a lid on the front that hinges back to
allow access for feeding and cleaning. The area directly beneath the
hinged top looses a little light. I was thinking of mounting a mirror
on the underside of the hinged portion of the canopy, thinking that
some light would reflect back down and might improve visibility. This
is not an issue of live rock doing well, just something that has been
irritating me as when my fish swim closer to the glass, they aren't
quite as visible. Just wanted to know if this was a dumb idea, or if
anyone had tried it.

Thanks in advance.

[GamePlayer No. 1058]

You'd be better off just painting the area white. I read about this and
asked this on www.reefcentral.com a long time ago, and the popular concensus
after reviewing lots of written material was/is that you get more light
relfection by painting the area white than using mirrors. There were many
different ideas why, and some substantiated like the angles of the mirrors
pushing the light rays to areas that were not appropriate, whereas white
paint makes "nubbies" (for lack of a better word in my vocabulary) that
relfect the light back many way which was better than the one way the mirror
might be angled.

There were other reasons as well but I have forgotten them at this point.


> wrote in message
ps.com...
> Hello,
>
> I am farily new to the hobby and this question has probably been asked
> before, but I shall ask it again. I just finished building a custom
> canopy with two 96 PC light fixtures built in. Each light has its own
> reflector and the canopy has a lid on the front that hinges back to
> allow access for feeding and cleaning. The area directly beneath the
> hinged top looses a little light. I was thinking of mounting a mirror
> on the underside of the hinged portion of the canopy, thinking that
> some light would reflect back down and might improve visibility. This
> is not an issue of live rock doing well, just something that has been
> irritating me as when my fish swim closer to the glass, they aren't
> quite as visible. Just wanted to know if this was a dumb idea, or if
> anyone had tried it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

[John]

Reflection, Specular Versus Diffuse - Objects such as mirrors provide specular
reflections, that is, they change the direction of the beam without scattering
or diffusing the light. Rough objects provide diffuse reflections that scatter
the light.

So bascially you get a better lit tank if you have your light spread out. If
its not scattered you would have "hot spots" of light, rather than an even
spread.

I wont get into White Paint vs. Polished aluminum reflectors, you can find many
sides of the story using google. I'd only suggest getting a specular polishied
aluminum reflector if you do go the aluminum route.
~John

[Fish-Forums.com]

Never heard this question. I do not see why it could not be done
besides if condensation got to the part behing the mirror i think it
MAY corrode


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On 23 Sep 2004 11:25:05 -0700, wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I am farily new to the hobby and this question has probably been asked
>before, but I shall ask it again. I just finished building a custom
>canopy with two 96 PC light fixtures built in. Each light has its own
>reflector and the canopy has a lid on the front that hinges back to
>allow access for feeding and cleaning. The area directly beneath the
>hinged top looses a little light. I was thinking of mounting a mirror
>on the underside of the hinged portion of the canopy, thinking that
>some light would reflect back down and might improve visibility. This
>is not an issue of live rock doing well, just something that has been
>irritating me as when my fish swim closer to the glass, they aren't
>quite as visible. Just wanted to know if this was a dumb idea, or if
>anyone had tried it.
>
>Thanks in advance.