Hi,

I have completed a DIY canopy for my 35gl hexagon. The canopy is made out
of pine and I am simply planning on staining it, inside and out. If anyone
is interested I can post the DIY instructions for it. My plan is to install
a 65 W retrofit kit into the canopy (including reflector). My question is,
would it be better if I painted the inside of the canopy a gloss white? As
this might aid in reflecting some of the light.... Or does it really matter
and I can stain the whole thing.

Thanks

Reg

I recently completed my own DIY canopy for a 30 gallon tank. There isn't
much in the way of light leaks from my reflector (ahsupply 96w kit), so I
don't know if you'd really gain anything by painting the insides white and
having a reflector. That said, it's not going to hurt anything either. If
you have the paint all ready and don't mind dirtying another brush, I'd say
go for it.
Daniel

"Reg Sherwood" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have completed a DIY canopy for my 35gl hexagon. The canopy is made out
of pine and I am simply planning on staining it, inside and out. If
anyone
is interested I can post the DIY instructions for it. My plan is to
install
a 65 W retrofit kit into the canopy (including reflector). My question
is,
would it be better if I painted the inside of the canopy a gloss white?
As
this might aid in reflecting some of the light.... Or does it really
matter
and I can stain the whole thing.

Thanks

Reg

Yes it will help, but for some reason flat white is apparantly better. Since
you already have reflectors I doubt your plants would care much. Anyways,
personally, I would be much more at ease with some good high temp, waterproof
white paint in there than stain. I would be afraid of water soaking up stain
and falling in the tank. Depending on the design of your canopy though, it
might not be an issue. Then again, it's like $3 cdn for high temp paint from
wal-mart. Alternatively, you can try mylar (the inside of potato chip bags
for a cheap source of relflectors. Good luck.

In article , "Reg Sherwood"
wrote:
Hi,

I have completed a DIY canopy for my 35gl hexagon. The canopy is made out
of pine and I am simply planning on staining it, inside and out. If anyone
is interested I can post the DIY instructions for it. My plan is to install
a 65 W retrofit kit into the canopy (including reflector). My question is,
would it be better if I painted the inside of the canopy a gloss white? As
this might aid in reflecting some of the light.... Or does it really matter
and I can stain the whole thing.

Thanks

Reg



__
"Insert witty comment here."
-John