Mirrored backing?

[Chemical_Whore]

I am very new to salt water I have done MANY fresh water tanks (at one time I was running 4 75gals) but I was thinking with all the light that is loved by the reef and fish in these tanks and I dont really wanna waste any at all.

So I saw that many of you paint the back black, but I found this http://www.krylon.com/main/product_...elid=8&productid=1764&content=product_details
has anyone used it, its for a glass 72 gal bow front, I wanna do something that has a mirrored suface even if getting a mirror cut to match the back of the tank and just mount it to it.

has any one tryed this? or am I just doing this to not get any benifit?

 

[danmhippo]

We painted black simply because it looks better. If you want to try the mirror backing, I don't see a problem with it as long as you like the way it looks.

 

[danmhippo]

Lights gets absorbed by water relatively quickly. I don't think the reflected light of the residual that tank water did not absorb would offer any benefit to the photosynthetic corals in the typical reef tank. However, I would also assume it will make your tank looks bigger.

 

[Chemical_Whore]

that is what I am really looing for, plus being able to spot things going on in the back might be a nice thing as well, I wasent really looking for a light effect it would have been nice but really I think it would come out looking ok, if I get it looking good I will post a pic.

 

[danmhippo]

In that case, you also want to make sure the LR does not lean on the back glass, sorta like piled up hill in the center of the tank. This way you will see the back critters better with the mirror backing.

Keep us posted, I want to know how it turns out as well.

BTW, Welcome to Reefs.Org!

 

[Anonymous]

>...Lights gets absorbed by water relatively quickly.

For visible light, I would say it is not the case unless your tank is more than 10 feet deep. Depends on your setup, the amount of light reflect out of your tank can be as much as 80% (bare-bottom tank with little rock) or as little as 30% (black background with lots of rock). So it would make a difference if you put mirror on the back and side of your tank.

 

[Anonymous]

The issue with a mirror (I've asked this before) is that many fish will get stressed out by seeing another of their fish in the same tank, might attack the mirror, etc.

Although I have thought about using mirrored surfaces for a coral prop tank, might as well double up that light

 

[Chemical_Whore]

I hadent thought of that, the fish getting stressed out over the mirror, but if I were to make it a dull mirror (which it looks like that product might just do) or even do swirls in it with other paints (which is shown on another part for xmas glass ornaments (sp?)) that would still be a intrasting back ground for them.

 

[Anonymous]

You could just paint the whole thing white it'll get the same effect mostly. But don't forget that's one more surface you'll have to worry about coraline growth

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

Yeh the fish might get stressed by having two people staring at them at once also