Elliot`s 220 reef LED build

I wonder what the difference in light transmittance there is between plexi and acrylic? FYI plexi has looser crosslinking properties between the carbon chains that it's derived from. This molecular structure can change a materials characteristics greatly. I wish I had a damn PAR meter!

 

I wonder what the difference is in light transmittance between plexi and acrylic. FYI plexi has looser crosslinking properties between the carbon chains it's derived from. These molecular characteristics can make a big difference in a materials characteristics. I wish I had a PAR meter! Acrylic would be the material of choice otherwise, as plexi is more flaccid long term and will distort and bow, acrylic will to some extent also depending on it's thickness, and considering the heat these materials will be subjected to.

 

You said flaccid

 

Haha!!!! Good one I love Bevis and Butthead!
I was thinking about a simple shield like this, all you would need is the material, tap a couple of holes for bolts and some plastic stand offs to go between the led's and the sheet of plexi/acrylic.
Anybody know where to find stand offs like that?

Somebody should sell a kit like this......copywrite! I call it!

 

Radio shack sells standoffs. I still think this type of shield is unnecessary unless you're retro fitting a nano with LED's. Optics would serve the same basic purpose.

 

Sweet good to know JB.
Nessesary or not? That seems to be the descrepancy depending on who you talk to.
For me it's a must though when I do mine, I have a hand sized Blue Hippo that has a bad habit of bowing her body parallel with the water surface and splashing water up and out of the tank when she's hungry, I've been trying not to reinforce the behavior by feeding but I don't have much of a choice, she's already burst 2 MH bulbs!