Re: Using Mirror for lighting reflectors?

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Kris asked:

> I've been on some rather serious reef and plant groups
> and I've never heard 
> anyone mention using mirror for lighting reflectors. Why
> is this? 
> It seems to me in larger setups, and (like marine) setups
> requiring high 
> amounts of lighting that this would be a perfect solution
> to lighting loss 
> due to degradation of reflected light.

While most ordinary mirrors are designed to produce an
organized reflection of light, they are often not optimized
for the amount of light that they reflect or absorb.  Also,
glass is heavier and less flexible to work with than some
of the alternatives and cannot easily be configured into a
parabolic or psuedoparabolic shape unless it is
manufactured that way to begin with.

Mirrored glass has it's uses but in most cases, there are
better things for aquarium hoods.

Scott H.

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