DIY Lumenarc III Reflectors

[Cove Beach]

I built mine out of solar tube also and all i did was to Quick clamp it to a sheet of plywood. And as far as making templates i first layed them out on paper then carefully cut them out with an exacto knife, then sprayed the backs of them with adhesive and attached them to 1/4" acrylic sheet that still had the protective coating on then cut them out with my bandsaw. I also scribed in the bend lines on the plastic for reference. Then all i did was to sharpen a good sized nail to make a scratch awl to trace around the plastic patterns. It worked out fine. Plus they look cool!

[Nammy]

Got any pics ?

[dngspot]

Dang nice reflectors.

[madadi]

i love that reflective material. maybe i can make some better reflectors for my T5s lol

[draleigh]

Originally posted by TomRep
For what it's worth, this is the difference using flashing vs. solar tubing

Ok now i need to go get the solar tube - thanks like i needed more projects.... LOL I knew the flashing wasn't all that reflective but WOW the difference is amazing. I guess i know what i will be doing AGAIN soon

[JaredWaites]

The only thing bad thing about using the solar material is, its going to create hot spots. What I mean is, some area's are going to have a more focused and direct light. So keep this in mind when placing corals.

[spleify]

Originally posted by JaredWaites
The only thing bad thing about using the solar material is, its going to create hot spots. What I mean is, some area's are going to have a more focused and direct light. So keep this in mind when placing corals.

Good to know,does this happan with stock Lumenarc's? Is there a way to avoid this? Why does it happen?
Thanks
Spleify

[MrSpiffy]

It happens because the material isn't perfectly flat. So any little curves in the material cause light to focus toward a spot. So, if you place the coral in that spot, it'll get more light than if it were moved a few inches over. If there's a spot that gets noticeably more light, I would avoid putting anything that likes moderate lighting there. In fact, you might want to avoid putting anything there for now, until everything gets used to the halides with the reflectors. Otherwise it might shock them.

I'm assuming Lumenarc's don't do that because their material is flat, and the bends are done by a bender that doesn't deform the flat areas of the material. That's hard to avoid when you bend by hand, like I did.

[spleify]

Great, thanks for the info.