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- Jan 23, 2016
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Many have complained about disco ball effects and hot spots with black box LEDs. Like many, I've experimented with using diffusers to reduce this. I'm not satisfied with how its gone and am wondering if anyone else has found a better solution.
I've tried the plastic sheets sold at Home Depot for diffusing fluorescent fixtures. This gave about 30% reduction in PAR but produced a visibly more even spread without major hotspots. After turning them up to overcome the reduced PAR things looked good. It was promising enough to run them that way for nearly a year before finally admitting it was not helping. Many corals went downhill and grow was reduced overall.
Plastic is optically not a good choice, since it absorbs some wavelengths more than glass and especially as it ages. My theory is that the plastic diffusers were making the spectrum worse for corals.
I'd like to try a glass diffuser but cant find any easy materials for DIY. Privacy glass would be good, frosted glass might work too. Has anyone tried anything like this?
I've tried the plastic sheets sold at Home Depot for diffusing fluorescent fixtures. This gave about 30% reduction in PAR but produced a visibly more even spread without major hotspots. After turning them up to overcome the reduced PAR things looked good. It was promising enough to run them that way for nearly a year before finally admitting it was not helping. Many corals went downhill and grow was reduced overall.
Plastic is optically not a good choice, since it absorbs some wavelengths more than glass and especially as it ages. My theory is that the plastic diffusers were making the spectrum worse for corals.
I'd like to try a glass diffuser but cant find any easy materials for DIY. Privacy glass would be good, frosted glass might work too. Has anyone tried anything like this?