Quick lighting question

[reeffreak]

It really doesn't take a genius to figure out that the light from the back of the bulb would be wasted without individual reflectors.IR's also helps the light penetrate better.

The Grimreaper(and maybe even Sanjay) has some PAR test and pictures of what each T5 bulb appears like.Overall,ATI had the best PAR followed closely by UV.Other bulb manufacturers had good PAR in certain bulbs,like the GE6500k bulbs.

[fatman]

All colors except true black and nearly all natural surfaces reflect light, some are just better. It would be very difficult to come up with a list of things and colors that absorb all light that strike them. There are even good and better individual reflectors, it depends on the design/shape and the reflectors surface material/color/texture, and bulb spacing from reflector. Individual parabolic reflectors, with proper spacing of the bulb from the refector adjustable for an individuals tank depth would be great, but I doubt that they are offered by anyone. To bad! Light with out be focused would be dispersed in who knows what directions. There are not that many tests on reflectors used for T-5's, that I am aware of. The usual test is on the bulbs, where a single reflector is chosen and the PAR of different bulbs and possibly different ballasts are tested and compared. There have been even few reflector tests for halides reflectors which have been in use for quite a lot longer than T-5's. It would be nice to see some good tests done on reflectors and to see those results widely posted. Perhaps it would encourage the design and sells of better lighting equipment. There is alot more poor quality lighting systems available than excellent lighting systems. It really does not require a lot to be the best in aquarium lighting.

[McCrary]

High polished aluminum is highly reflective and seems to be used by the majority of companies that manufacture reflectors. The angles of the reflectors can be generalized for different sized tanks without too much of a loss.