"grop" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:37:33 +1100, Ozdude wrote:

As for the hood; it's already got a matte white reflector surface inside
but
I intend to make this as reflective as possible, and in the process alter
the side angles using styrofoam inserts, so the majority of the light
hits
the water surface at 90 degrees or as close to it as possible. I am using
some 3D ray-tracing software to trace the rays from the tubes, so I
should
get somewhat close to optimal.

Love to see the design you come up with, maybe write a how to and share
your experiences with us

I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can only improve on a
reflective surface (over a mat white) by a small percentage? I may be
wrong?

No you are right. There is every possibility that matt white will be
sufficient, but if I can get max % refelection, even if it's say, 3 or 4%
over white then everybody's happy and to top it off it will make an
interesting commentary if I put a details web page together.

Optimally it'd be a matter of just buying the fitting, changing the lamps
and positioning it over the tank and pluging it in, but as I am doing
nothing put projecting at this time it's one of those "run with the
bulls..." type things

One thing's for sure though - the outer surface is going to be retrofitted
and painted because bent metal in basic grey isn't going to cut it from a
room aesthetics point of view

Have a good Christmas and a progressive New Year (at least)

Oz