# Light Glare



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

In general, you have to have the bulbs up in the light hood far enough that you can't see them, or any reflected light from the side. I like to use fairly deep reflectors if I make a light fixture. When I mounted an AH Supply light kit in a wood hood I put reflective tape on the front and back inside of the hood, and had the reflector more than inch above the bottom of the hood. That worked well at killing any glare for that fixture. The higher the light is above the tank, the harder it is to avoid glare.


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

yea my concern is that I would like to do a pendant fixture, but even now with the lights right on the glass I'm getting glare (1/4" of space causes it)

I just hate this effect (**I don't own this pic, just a random google image of my problem)


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## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

I made a half-canopy that was tall enough on the front to hide the CFL lamps and block the glare towards me.


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

yea I'm trying to figure out what I want to do

When I move, I will have 2 book shelves on either side of the tank, and the tank will be the "show piece" of the room that everyone sees when they walk in. So I really am trying to max out the WOW factor and this is one of those steps to fix


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I don't think there is any question that a well designed, full, high hood on top of the tank, with the lights completely hidden in the hood, makes the tank look the best as a showpiece for company. The downside of this is that it makes it much harder to do in-tank maintenance, aquascaping, etc. I like the appearance of a tank with a pendant light above it, as long as I can't see the light bulbs/LEDs. The light spillover doesn't bother me that much. And, the pendant lights make in-tank maintenance as easy as possible.


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

I saw you made some pendants on another thread, how is the glare from them?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Hardy85 said:


> I saw you made some pendants on another thread, how is the glare from them?


No, I haven't made any pendant fixtures, just lights that are the full length of the tank and able to sit on the tank or be raised a bit. Right now I am working on a pair of pendants, with LEDs, to light a 65 gallon tank. A DIY article will soon follow.


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

A well lighted hood-less tank in a softly lit room destroys the ambiance of the room and even in a brightly lit room that glare is intolerable. Will wait for Hoppy's DIY solution - left on my own I would have used a couple of inch high strip painted charcoal black on the rear and a colour pattern to suit the room's decor on facing side raising the height of the front and part of the lateral sides to shade the viewer from the glare. All that the strip need to do is sit stably on the front rim of the tank and be easily removed/replaced during maintenance times.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

if you could post a pic (even crappy cell-phone pic) of your setup, it might help give people a better idea of what your situation is, and how to work around it.

This is prety ghetto, but if it's only ~1/4", just stick some black duct tape, or even electrical tape around the rim to conceal the gap...

Otherwise, I think it would be more at giving your light housings more of a 'skirt' - make sure the outside (preferably the reflector, but if your light levels are fine, probably not a big deal) of the housing hangs down below the lowermost point of the bulb enough so that direct beams don't extend past the edge of the tank. try taping a bit of string/thread to the bottom most point of the bulb, and then to the nearest edge of the tank. I think if you can make your light housing go past this line a bit, you should eliminate most of the glare. 
I'm just speculating though...


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## Hardy85 (May 3, 2013)

I'll take a photo tonight

Essabee, you are right, its tough having the lights low in the room because of all the light coming off of the top of the tank.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

A lot of people just put a piece of metal or something on the front of the light when hung. I actually really like my very low stand. The top of my aquarium is only slightly higher than my waist. My light is only at my elbow. I am pretty tall so it's not that short, it's 40 inches from floor to top of rim. It's only a 17ish gallon tank so it may not look so great on a 150 gallon tank.

I find most aquarium stands are too tall to view when sitting down but too short to view when standing up. I never really liked that. I spend 100% of my viewing time (outside of a quick glance) sitting down. I found putting all my tanks on low stands where the light is at or below eye level while sitting down makes them much more attractive. All my tanks are open top so they aren't bad to look at standing up. So, I think the best solution is a shorter stand. Or make it tall and then the lights are so high that you have to look up to bother you.


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## CHOMPPPPP (Jan 24, 2013)

Can you raise the back half or lower the front half so the light is pointed more towards the back?


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