[StuartDanger]

hello,

i am trying to make my tank feel more home like for my new rbp's, i was thinking that in the jungles that they live in they have rays of light through the canopy. i wanted to know if this would work:
paint my light black with some sort of semi translucent paint and then scratch off little pieces too let little jets of light through. thus simulating a jungle.
would this work? has anyone tried this?

stuart

 

[Grosse Gurke]

Just use tin foil and poke holes in it....it works well.

 

[iLLwiLL]

OR

you could use poster board and cut holes in it where you want the light to shine through. some light will radiate through the thick paper, but the majority of light would shine through the holes. just cut the piece to fit right under your strip light and tape it to the sides.

just an idea I pulled out of my ass . . . see if it works.

~Will.

 

[Grosse Gurke]

Although it will mainly dim the light...not really have rays.

 

[EMJAY]

good question. i have heard of people twisting electrical tape around the bulb in a candy cane pattern.

im sure this would work, but dont get into paint. theres gotta be another method

 

[traumatic]

I suggest lots of floating plants

some lillypads or something really helps a lot. also try raising the lamp up higher from the tank. see how that works

 

[traumatic]

some pics of what I mean...

you like?

 

[StuartDanger]

that is way cool, i like that plants which are the ones in ur tank? i might try with the plant idea but tonite im gonna make a cylindar roll of paper to go over my light and cut some little bits out and see what that looks like.
do you think doing this will make my p's act more natural in the tank?

thanks everyone

stuart

 

[traumatic]

a better, close-up pic of the tank & shoal

 

[StuartDanger]

ok guys, ive just put a piece of thick card around my light, the card didnt fit all long the length of the tank so at each end of the tank there r two shafts of light, looks great when all the lights bar the aquarium light is off. i will post some pics later maybe, will the sellotape melt from the light???

stuart

 

[Hehehe I just]

tinfoil worked perfectly for me

 

[traumatic]

Take some pics, we'd like to see what it looks like

 

[StuartDanger]

click on my signature to have a look also tell me how it looks its my first attempt

 

[StuartDanger]

here is what i have done:

 

[StuartDanger]

all i did is wrap blue card into a tube then taped it up and slid it over the light

 

[Winkyee]

That should be OK , I know some fl. tubes get pretty hot near the ends.

 

[Judazzz]

If you really want rays of light, I'd replace the tube light with two spotlights (for every corner one), and replace the canopy by sheet(s) of glass: dimm the glass sheets with dark sheets of paper, tinfoil or whatever useful, and it should look sweet (I guess, never tried it...)

 

[StuartDanger]

the picture doesnt do it justice. i will keep snapping until i get one that does. i tried to cut a little hole in the tube but it didnt make ne rays of light maybe if i made a bigger one...

stuart

 

[Hehehe I just]

you probably won't be able to get "rays" b/c the sun is a lot more powerful of an enerfy source than fl. tubes. Plus, the rays show in nature because the water has different minerals and is alot more cloudy than the water in your tank.

 

[traumatic]

It's a start, not bad looking. Just try different things to get the desired result. there can be many ways to do it. Be creative!!