Painting Tank White!!

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Welsh

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 30, 2010
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336
Location
South Wales, UK
I've heard that painting the underside of the hood white, helps to reflect light around the tank. My aquarium hood is black, would painting it white make any difference, as my lighting is low light?

Thanks :)
 
Just a standard bulb that came with the tank, 15watts 6500k. Yeah for growing plants, Crypts and anubia's, polysperma, mainly.
 
T8 florescent, or incandescent?

What size tank?

My initial reaction is painting the hood is not going to do much at all. While it is true that White will reflect more light than black, at 15W with no reflectors, it just is not going to make much difference at all.
 
It's a T8 Fluorescent. I thought as much, I just thought I'd check before I went ahead with it.

If I were to paint the hood white, what kind of paint would I need to use? Could it just be any emulsion, or gloss I find around the house, or should I look out for a specific type that won't poison my fish when condensation drips off it?

Thanks :)
 
Hi, you could try to do your own reflector instead of painting the hood. I used duct tape, the one you find on a kitchen connecting your exhaust system to the pipe. It's made of aluminium so it's reflective silver much like a mirror. And best of all it's really low cost :) it worked on my light fixture.. ^.^
 
At that point try aluminum foil just to see if you find any difference. Shinny side out :)

Hi, you could try to do your own reflector instead of painting the hood. I used duct tape, the one you find on a kitchen connecting your exhaust system to the pipe. It's made of aluminium so it's reflective silver much like a mirror. And best of all it's really low cost :) it worked on my light fixture.. ^.^
 
didysis said:
At that point try aluminum foil just to see if you find any difference. Shinny side out :)

It's also a great idea and cheaper too. The only reason i went for the duct tape instead of the foil was because of the sticky side (meaning less work) and it's a bit more resistant (since it's thicker) .. Other than that i would have chosen foil too.
 
I was going to try foil, but I read somewhere that foil scatters light rather than reflect it around the whole tank, or something along those lines anyway lol.
 
I don't see how a reflective material facing an area that needs to be lit up, would in any way direct less light than without it.
They fashion reflectors out of "hammertone" reflector sheets, which are very similar to what your end result would be-
hammertone reflector sheets
 
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