Can I use Egg Crate to reduce Metal halide Intensity?

[jamirlima]

Can I use Egg Crate to reduce Metal halide Intensity? I am getting a cube tank that is 18" tall and 24x24 with 250 watts metal halide and 2x24 T5 on the top canopy (MH lights 12" above the water surface). I actually want to grow acans and zoos but am thinking it will be too much light for acans.

Can I use egg crate to reduce the light intensity? Few egg crate between tank surface and the MH light.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[rarelyseriousb]

yes. and if you stack sheets of plastic window screen over that you can change the intensity a lot.

 

[Ladipyg]

I'd go for the window screening on top of the egg crate if your looking to introduce MH lighting to a tank that didn't have it previously. Use more than one layer of screening and take a layer off every 2 or 3 of days...it will be fine.

 

[Hypertek99]

Yes you can. A lot of people do that.

 

[jamirlima]

Plastic window screen? From home depot or lowes? are they transparent?

 

[Ladipyg]

Just regular window screening like you would use on your windows..it comes in rolls, just cut to fit. The more screening material, the less light gets in, as you remove a layer at a time your corals have a chance to adjust to the change in intensity.

 

[Natclanwy]

You can reduce it by using eggcrate and window screen but I don't know that you will need to, I have a 55g that has 2-250w MH lights over it and I have no issues with corals bleaching or browning out. I do have to be careful when I add new corals and there are some that I can't keep on top of my rock work which is only 15" from the lights. With MH's you can generally place corals that are sensitive to intense light at the outside edge of the light pattern where the intensity of the light is dramatically different than it is directly under the bulb.