# Curare *bombed* Nano.



## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Aluminum foil scatters light. Use mylar sheeting or paint it white. Also, you guys sure do have a funny name for generic Axe. They really call it Lynx in Australia? That's the ethnocentrism talking.


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

actually that's spray paint.

for underarms.

yes they do call it that

How do you figure that aluminium foil scatters light?


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## Ðank (Dec 29, 2005)

Turn off the lights and turn on a flashlight. Shine the light on the foil and try to reflect it and illuminate something. 

You'll find that it is a very poor reflector.


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

Okay, I have done some research into this ,and there's no doubt that naf old aluminium foil makes excellent diffused reflectors for photography.

Now in this case I decided to do a little experiment, in the most hermetically sealed environment known to man, my workshop.

these tests were conducted to see if MY setup was going to be better or worse with what I had in there at the moment.

The camera is a NIKON D50 set at 1.5m from the screen, and the lamp at 1.0m from the screen. Camera settings were 1/5 sec @ F11. on manual.

the screen before the light was switched on.









exposed lamp (no reflector) 









existing (factory finish) reflector









White screen (paper)









Polished aluminium foil









The difference? It's pretty much as you see here, and I'm sure that most of the light reflected up into the hood is reabsorbed by the lamp anyway, there's not much to gain, but every little bit does help, and rather than painting it white (which will age yellow) I'll stick to my shiny metal thanks.


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## BumMonkey (Feb 16, 2006)

bit off topic
but for the guy who thought lynx was a funny name.....
thats what they call it here in the uk too, sooooo maybe its you weird americans that they give it a funny name for


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## Livebearer101 (Feb 7, 2006)

Lynx Africa and Lynx Click are niceeee


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

Hehehe., that's there so that you crazies could get a sense of scale not a sense of smell! ROFL!!


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

On your reflector comparison, not sure if this is my computer or eyes or what, but it looks like the "factory finish" reflector beats all other setups.

I am not saying it is too little light... but I agree that aluminum foil is a bad choice for a reflector. Paint it white... would give you more light (again... not saying that you would need it).


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

I'll leave it for the time being, but ultimately this hood will go.

While it works, and all, I've never really been happy with the PC lighting that you can fit into something like this, as you can see from the photo, there is a big corner of the tank that won't really receive any light due to the bayonet and ballast being there.

I'm considering my options for better coverage, and will do something more outlandish in time,but at the moment, I'm just itching to get this thing up and running.


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

Why don't you just use a real reflector? I have an extra one that I gutted from my canopy when I replaced it with a set up from AHSUPPLY. PM me and I will send you a pic. If you want it let make a deal. It will be far better than Aluminum Foil. 

BTW is it Reynolds Aluminum Foil or the store brand???


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

Actually it's neither.

It's industrial stuff made by OneSteel here in australia. It's a lot thicker than the usuall crappy aluminum foil. And is a hell of a lot shinier.


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

Looking at your test pictures it seems to me that the factory finish is the best.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I have to agree, the factory finished reflector does appear to be the best.

Mike


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## jhoetzl (Feb 7, 2005)

Yes...and here is a visual of why you think the factory finish is the best.
Histograms are a decent way of demonstrating this...

the screen before the light was switched on.









exposed lamp (no reflector) 









existing (factory finish) reflector (smoother slopes on the left and right)









White screen (paper)









Polished aluminium foil


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

hmm nice work I didn't think to use the histo's.


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

Well, after much farting about the tank is starting to look like a planted tank.










I kinda messed up when I was doing the substrate, and so an nice cloud is what I received.

At the moment, the tank is sparsely populated with some anubias, sunset hygrophilia, lillaeopsis, and a little water hedge here and there.

the whole DIY filter system looks like this.


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

Well, after three weeks or so of being up and running, I've spent a little more time aquasacaping, and now I'm just waiting for things to grow out.

All of the plants seem to be responding well and i'm rather happy with it, APART from the tea coloured water from my driftwood. 

Sorry for the funny colour of the photos but you'll see what I mean.


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## Livebearer101 (Feb 7, 2006)

Awesome planting you got there. I like that piece of driftwood - very subtle. 

What you got in there? Are they killis or is that a rummynose i can see?


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

What if.... you moved the driftwood slightly off the center point?


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## bpm2000 (Feb 16, 2005)

sarahbobarah said:


> What if.... you moved the driftwood slightly off the center point?


Exactly what i was thinking, although with taller/less longish tanks I've found center planting looks good if they have a LOT of vegetation around it.


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## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

The plan was exactly that, to create a central planted arrangement and try keep eveything balanced.

I tried messing around with a few differenct peices of driftwood and nothing really worked off at the side for me, it just felt too lopsided. If i was able to get it working ala rule of thirds, I would have considered it.

the fish that are in there are lampeyes, for now. they're scaredy cats but the minute food goes in they forget their worries.


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