Silver Mylar ?

[RichSea7]

I was wondering if the silver reflective mylar (plastic) sheets used in indoor gardening would be reef/saltwater safe for lining the inside of a custom tank hood ?

[Neptune777]

Depends...will you be using MH or T5/VHO? Low heat applications would be OK I would think.

[twon8]

i think you money would be better spent on a good reflector for the bulbs.

[pjf]

Check out bottom of this webpage: http://www.aquatictech.com/lighting.html

[RichSea7]

Thanks for the Info...... I was just wonderng, cause with the AGA 155 Bowfront, there are two plastic braces across the top of the tank..... Since I want to have a MH ( probably just one pendant in the center ) DE fixture and T5's I was trying to figure out how to make it work.... ( especially as both lengthwise ends of the tank taper, making getting 4 + T5's running on each "side" end of the tank difficult ..... )

[DarG]

How long is the tank? Anything over 3 feet is not going to get good coverage from a single halide (not without using a light mover). 3 foot square is about the max from even the large versions of the good reflectors and that may be pushing it. On the Mylar sheets, I agree with the others. I think a metal halide would melt it pretty quickly unless they make some special type of high temp. material made to handle the heat of halides.

[RichSea7]

The tank is 6 ft. long ( It's the same dimensions as a standard 180 Gallon, with the curve in front, rather than straight glass. The loss in volume is due to the tapering in depth along front corners - Thus it holds 155 gallons rather than 180 gallons )

My goal is to have a more "Japanese" style lighting system with higher light levels in the center of the tank..... Additionally, I plan to do a bit deeper water Biotope than most of the tanks here, so any SPS I keep will be relegated to the top 12 inches of the tank.....

[DarG]

I dont have a clue what the Japanese reef tank is but if the goal is high light in the center then I guess the general rule of thumb for number of halides and spacing doesnt really apply. But if you are going to do that, may as well do it the best you can so maybe put the halide in a good reflector in the center and skip the Mylar. Its not going to take the heat anyway. Then again, seeing how uniform light throughout the tank is NOT the goal, maybe you could get away with a lighting system like those that use a single, giant reflector inside the fixture for both the halides and the flourescents. Something like some of those combo PFO DIY reflectors and fixtures or like some of the Hamilton combo strips.