[kakulo83]

Ohla, I found this site http://www.reefrancher.com/diy/halfpipe/ and was considering constructing a few. Would metal halides get hot enough to melt the plastic? What do you guys think, is this design practical? Thanks

 

[Rex Grigg]

It will work if you can isolate the heat from the plastic. MH lights easily get hot enough to melt PVC.

 

[dissident]

Honestly.... if you are going to retro expensive MH bulbs you might as well build your own pendants out of wood so they don't look like whatever "That" is...

Even if you painted the PVC I couldn't imagine it looking any better... it would just look like painted PVC with a few hundred $$$ of lighting in it... kinda like buying a DVD/LCD for a $3000 GEO

Spend the $30 for the wood and do it right.

 

[DarkCobra]

See where they've attached the reflector to the PVC with bolts? Put a spacer on the bolts to separate the reflector from the PVC a bit. The air gap will help keep the PVC cool.

Honestly.... if you are going to retro expensive MH bulbs you might as well build your own pendants out of wood so they don't look like whatever "That" is...

LOL! I don't think it looks *that* bad, and with a decent black paint job it would look pretty good. If you must have the wood look, you could always steam some veneer and glue it to the PVC. Or even some wood-patterned contact paper. No one is going to notice, they'll be too busy looking at the tank.

 

[kakulo83]

thanks for the replies, I will try with both wood and PVC. I think a PVC pendant might look rather nice :icon_roll Cheers

 

[frloplady]

Update...what did you end up doing?