Re: [APD] Looking to get a new tank

["Robert T. Ricketts" <rtricketts at verizon_net>]

Don Harvie wrote:
>This seems counter-intuitive to me. Is there an explanation as >to why?

It all has to do with light transmission, reflection & refraction through
air-water interfaces, water-glass interfaces, and glass-air interfaces, plus
tube or point-source light sources.  Basically it is all optics.  You can
visualize this by cardboard placed around a tank on a flat surface.  The 10s
and nanos are surrounded by wasted light. While the large square
cross-section tanks do not look so bad or wasteful.

For small containers, the optics are all terrible.  For mid-sized tanks they
are better. For what we call large tanks, especially the square
cross-section (or wider) ones, they are significantly better still.  What we
call "depth", the front-to-back measure, tubular lighting eases still more
in that the "height" significance diminishes as the so-called depth
increase.  With spaced tubes repeated regularly from front to back, the
light functions almost as a plane source rather than a line sources.

Off-topic, but if you want some real fun with optics, play with Monaco-style
tanks (which have 5 or more sides, frequently with none being parallel).  In
those the near side walls visually disappear and the angled rear walls are
harder to grasp visually when not at all parallel to the face/front glass.
Those would be a challenge to light for plants. 

RTR
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