Impact of Reflectors on T5 intensity

[chaoscat]

There is a very informative article in the April edition of Tropical Fish Hobbyist by James Fatherree. He wanted to see just what impact reflectors had on the intensity of T5 lighting making it down into the tank. He tested the light intensity with the reflectors blacked out with tape and then unrestricted, comparing the two numbers. Two different types of fixtures were tested. Fixtures with multiple bulbs having one "flat sheet" polished aluminum reflector with a single bend on each edge, and a setup with 3 bulbs each having it's own reflector, the type with the bump along along the center seam and folds on the sides.

I'm not going to go into the details here, if you want that, buy the magazine.

But, the final results were:

A flat sheet reflector increased the average PAR going into the tank by 220%, more than double.

An individual reflector increased average PAR by 301%. That's somewhat staggering, that adding a reflector above each individual T5 bulb triples the PAR finding it's way into your tank.

If asked to guess the outcome before reading the article, I would thought that the amount of increased light added by using a reflector would be some number under a 100%. I would never have guessed that a reflector made THAT much difference.

 

[Baxreefs]

There are better reflectors, but I use the TEK individual reflectors from Reef Geek on my T-5s. They make a huge difference.

Good reflectors enhance your light efficientcy and since we spend so much on operating costs in that regard it's a flat out benefit. No debate as with skimming , ca reactors, kalk and such.

On my MHs I use Lumenarcs I have both LA IIIs and minis. Good reflectors are one of the few pieces of reef equipment where you can hands down say they are worth every penny.