Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #55

To: "Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com" <Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com>
Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #55
From: "Dave Gomberg" <gomberg at wcf_com>
Date: Tue, 07 May 96 08:17:08 -0800

On Tue, 7 May 1996 03:39:02 -0400, Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com
wrote:
>From: George Booth <booth at hpmtlgb1_lvld.hp.com>
>Date: Mon, 06 May 1996 15:39:46 -0600
>Subject: Light "Pipes"
>> From: cbay at jeppesen_com (Charlie Bay)
>> Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 07:42:27 -0600 (MDT)
>A light pipe sounds better if you can afford the concentrator and
>diffuser at each end. 

There are two commercial light pipe companies for home use.  They
both use 1:1 transmission (no compression).  One uses a straight shot
for the light, one uses this aluminum foil reinforced tubing in a 24"
diameter.  My guess is they both work.  

The cheap and simple way is to locate a heliostat with a pretty good
mirror (you can get remarkable "Float" mirrors at Kmart for $2, they
are about 3'x1') due north of your tank and to locate a redirector
mirror over the tank.  The heliostat will send the light horizontal
due south, and the redirector will send it straight down into the
tank.  You could build one for much less that $100 I'll bet, if the
archtecture of your house permits.  And if it must serve several
tanks just put a bigger mirror on the heliostat and split it when the
beam reaches your fish room.   Dave

Dave Gomberg, Experimenta      San Francisco CA USA   gomberg at wcf_com