Seeking DIY plans for a sunlight-directing hood

[jgolden]

Hi all.

With the tank sitting in the recroom on the basement, I'm spending $$$ on hydro. Even if / when I move from VHO to T5HO or CF, it'll still cost $$$. I was thinking that if I move the tank 6' along the one wall, under the window, I might be able to build a new hood that would allow me to reflect the sunlight coming in through the window throughout the tank, something like the attached.

Anyone know where I could find some plans to accomplish this? I know the hood itself will be simple... I think it'll be the size, type, angle of mirror(s), along with whether to use concave and / or convex mirrors that's going to be the tricky part, and is more what I'm trying to find plans for.

TIA

Jeff



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[Saltcreep]

How about one of those light-reflecting tube skylights? I think they're called SolarTube or something like that. They are basically a flexible tube coated on the inside with a highly reflective film. I'm thinking about installing one in a dark hallway in my house.

[presto]

Any mirror should work but you will probably need more than one to reach all the areas.

Interesting idea, I'll have to think about it myself, I have the same layout at home.

[sdivell]

I think you'd be looking for a sligh concave mirror or a flat mirror to direct the light.

A fully concave mirror will have a small focal point for the light.. probably about the size of a baseball or smaller.

convex wont work at all as it'll just disperse the light around your basement without and focus at all on the tank.

does this window get direct sunlight? if this window is in the shade for most of the day you probably wont get enough light

[jgolden]

The window sits about 1.5' above the top of the tank, and receives direct sunlight from about 1:30 until sunset.

I have a few ideas with the design I'm playing with, but haven't prototyped them yet (and my math skills are rather rusty , so getting the mirror shape correct is taking time).

Most of the design concepts I'm playing with have either a slight concave shape, or have a series of reflectors at differing angles to try reaching all the tank.

I'll try posting some of the more plausible concepts I'm thinking about...

[groan]

This would make a great experiment for a school project. If there are any science teachers around and if you could provide exact measurmenets i bet some brainiacs could give you a few ideas.

as for the convex dispersing the light, if you disperse it in the right direction, ie. down, you could increase the amount of light hitting the tank. also think about lenses, the flat lenses (the name escapes me but you sometimes see them in the back windows of vans) could help to project the light to cover all 8 corners of your tank.

great idea!

[Saltcreep]

...... also think about lenses, the flat lenses (the name escapes me but you sometimes see them in the back windows of vans) could help to project the light to cover all 8 corners of your tank.

I believe it's called a Fresnel lens.

[Brine]

I would be tempted to buy a piece of mirrored plastic from Canus plastics and experiment with it. I know for a fact that it is flexible enough to make a concave or convex shape. It can be bought in sheets as thin as 1/8th inch. It seems to me you could just build some kind of frame to hold the correct shape once you determine the optimal shape.