Aluminum Foil
- Thread starter jarvis01
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Resident Kush
Well-Known Member
Any store with camping supplies, look for emergency blanket, pretty sure like a 6x6 sheet is like two or three bucks.
Flat white paint is the best though. Mylar does burn and creates more heat.
Flat white paint is the best though. Mylar does burn and creates more heat.
Resident Kush
Well-Known Member
Mylar is annoying whilst the fan hitting it, ive only ever had burn spots when using mylar, I still have like 6 emerg blankets unopened at my house because they burn. I find its better if you have more room than the lumen output, so its more reflective, and keeps the temp higher. Otherwise with white paint, besides the bulb you will never get a burn, and its almost if not equal reflective.
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
Aluminum foil works great, I use the shiny side, but it's not a big deal which side you use. I just find the duller side easier to adhere with glue to whatever surface need be, usually cardboard, so they're mobile without getting fucked up.
Flat/matte white paint is a completely diffuse reflector(also called Lambertian). Regular Al foil is about equally specular as it is diffuse. Aluminized Mylar is more specular than diffuse, and a mirror is pretty much entirely specular, with nearly zero diffusion.
Specular reflection is often called 'mirror image' or 'solid' reflection. Lasers use mirrors, and this keeps the beam nearly 100% solid, and like a mirror, nearly perfect reflection. Mylar would be close to a mirror, al foil would be noticeably more diffuse, and if you try to shine a laser off white paint... you'll probably will notice a very slight, very even glow(if anything). There is very little distance white paint will 'throw' light. Al foil is better, mylar even better yet, and a silver mirror reflecting a laser would be unnoticeable, as in you couldn't tell the original beam with a reflected beam.
Specular reflectors have the capability to create hot spots the easiest. As, like a laser and mirror, the light is being directed in solid units, according to the law of reflectivity. It's not being diffused much, and this can effectively double, triple, or quadruple, etc... your light's measured intensity, in lux, at the plant's surface.
Diffuse reflectors waste a substantial amount of light. They send off light in basically every single direction. It's not directed in any one particular direction like specular/mirror reflectors. Which is why it's basically impossible to create a radiant hot spot with a diffuse reflector.
That by no means makes paint a poor reflector(it's still roughly half as effective, a specular overcoat would help significantly, like enamels and powder coats). It(basic flat white) just can not throw light as well or as intense as a specular reflector. No way, no how.
Flat/matte white paint is a completely diffuse reflector(also called Lambertian). Regular Al foil is about equally specular as it is diffuse. Aluminized Mylar is more specular than diffuse, and a mirror is pretty much entirely specular, with nearly zero diffusion.
Specular reflection is often called 'mirror image' or 'solid' reflection. Lasers use mirrors, and this keeps the beam nearly 100% solid, and like a mirror, nearly perfect reflection. Mylar would be close to a mirror, al foil would be noticeably more diffuse, and if you try to shine a laser off white paint... you'll probably will notice a very slight, very even glow(if anything). There is very little distance white paint will 'throw' light. Al foil is better, mylar even better yet, and a silver mirror reflecting a laser would be unnoticeable, as in you couldn't tell the original beam with a reflected beam.
Specular reflectors have the capability to create hot spots the easiest. As, like a laser and mirror, the light is being directed in solid units, according to the law of reflectivity. It's not being diffused much, and this can effectively double, triple, or quadruple, etc... your light's measured intensity, in lux, at the plant's surface.
Diffuse reflectors waste a substantial amount of light. They send off light in basically every single direction. It's not directed in any one particular direction like specular/mirror reflectors. Which is why it's basically impossible to create a radiant hot spot with a diffuse reflector.
That by no means makes paint a poor reflector(it's still roughly half as effective, a specular overcoat would help significantly, like enamels and powder coats). It(basic flat white) just can not throw light as well or as intense as a specular reflector. No way, no how.
This is a great post! People often say that the white paint is as good as mylar but you just explained why its not in a very straightforward and accessible manner. +rep to you sir!
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
Where's the reference or source for that information? 
I've read lots of books with inaccurate information....
We might as well take fdd2blk's findings as gospel: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/8168-test.html
425/500 = 85%, compared to thick aluminized Mylar. So unless his reflective Mylar was roughly 70-80% itself.... No way aluminum foil is as low as that book states! Unless you cover it with manure?
'Curled' a bit, both forms of aluminum reflectors go 'off the charts'.
I've read lots of books with inaccurate information....
We might as well take fdd2blk's findings as gospel: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/8168-test.html
425/500 = 85%, compared to thick aluminized Mylar. So unless his reflective Mylar was roughly 70-80% itself.... No way aluminum foil is as low as that book states! Unless you cover it with manure?
'Curled' a bit, both forms of aluminum reflectors go 'off the charts'.
9inch bigbud
Well-Known Member
i know what i line my walls with no matter what you have to say T tree. ill take advice from professionals who grow under HID's and make a living out of writing books than someone who grows in a cupboard using CFL's and has no pictuers to prove any of what he says to stand true.Where's the reference or source for that information?
I've read lots of books with inaccurate information....
We might as well take fdd2blk's findings as gospel: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/8168-test.html
425/500 = 85%, compared to thick aluminized Mylar. So unless his reflective Mylar was roughly 70-80% itself.... No way aluminum foil is as low as that book states! Unless you cover it with manure?
'Curled' a bit, both forms of aluminum reflectors go 'off the charts'.
p.s
no hard feelings dude i do like you and had some of the best debates with you
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
I don't like you or your opinions, 9inchbigbud.
You basically sum it up with:
No matter how much logic or reason that's presented to me, 9inchbugbud, I choose to be told. I don't actually think about stuff. That requires too much effort. Just tell me what to do, as long as you're a professional.
I think another word for this is tool. No offense. No hard feelings.
You basically sum it up with:
Which basically says to me:
No matter how much logic or reason that's presented to me, 9inchbugbud, I choose to be told. I don't actually think about stuff. That requires too much effort. Just tell me what to do, as long as you're a professional.
I think another word for this is tool. No offense. No hard feelings.
9inch bigbud
Well-Known Member
my grow room's coverd in mylarI don't like you or your opinions, 9inchbigbud.
You basically sum it up with:
Which basically says to me:
No matter how much logic or reason that's presented to me, 9inchbugbud, I choose to be told. I don't actually think about stuff. That requires too much effort. Just tell me what to do, as long as you're a professional.
I think another word for this is tool. No offense. No hard feelings.
works for me iv used tin foil and even mirrors
yes spent 100s on them when i 1st started growin cannabis indoors under lights some 20 years ago and know 1st hand mylar is better than tin foil. you see i put practice in to my methods and find what works best for me if you are a cheep skate and want to use inferior products then good for you i pay a lot for the light i use and want the maximum amount of light i can get = more budwhere are you photos of your grow?
no offence taken m8 i say it how i see it in my grows and yeilds.
p.s
i experament my new grow room i have just finnished it is lined with this stuff http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Growroom-Products-20/-Sheeting-331/Diamond-Grow-Reflective-Sheeting-855.asp ill let you know how it goes? my new grow will be in NFT sytem the pics you see below was a total disaster i admit. i used 3x600watts where i should have use my 1000s but then i did not use my cool tubes may bee next time i will? the soil ph was out of wack in this grow totaly my falut plants 2 weeks in flower below.
