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What is the best reflective material for indoor terrariums?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
I'm about to start indoor terrarium growing (green-house style) and I was wondering what the best reflective material to put around the sides would be. Would white cardboard or aluminum foil work best?
 
aluminum foil would reflect best....but white cardboard will brobably look nicer and be easier to manage.
 
Since you're in Florida, I'm guessing that you don't care about insulation qualities (if so, there are foil backed foam board and/or rolls of a foil-covered bubble-wrap stuff). For pure reflectivity, mylar (think: space blanket) is tough to beat (& cheap).
 
Since you're in Florida, I'm guessing that you don't care about insulation qualities (if so, there are foil backed foam board and/or rolls of a foil-covered bubble-wrap stuff). For pure reflectivity, mylar (think: space blanket) is tough to beat (& cheap).

mylar....hands DOWN.


Where can I buy mylar? Will the local Walmart have it?
 
Aluminum foil is prone to tear at worst and crinkling at best. Mylar is much better.
 
no - check out hydroponic stores
 
What properties do you want? In terms of reflectivity, mylar is probably the best choice, or foil of the two options you mention. If you want something that looks nice, a matte white is likely better. If you want something that will last a long time without problems, I suggest covering a hard surface like plywood with a product called panda film - it's bright white on one side, and black on the other, and is pest and disease resistant. If you're trying to improve light availability to your plants, a shiny metal surface is better, but you want something that's textured and not smooth, so that it will spread the light more evenly. In all likelihood, you'll need to go to a hydroponic supplier to do this right.
~Joe
 
Where can I buy mylar?
Fleabay or Amazon.

Will the local Walmart have it?
You can always check Walmart.com and check local availability. If it's not available at your store but is on walmart.com, you can have it shipped to your store (so you won't miss out on that warm, comforting feeling of rubbing elbows with walmart-ites). :0o: :poke:
 
  • #10
Space blankets/mylar are usually found in camping supplies. They may even be at Walmart, in the camping/hunting department.
 
  • #11
I use black and white. It's slightly less reflective than mylar, but cheaper! :D

Here's a pic of one of my grow shelves that i lined with it. It's a lot brighter than the picture makes it out to be.

 
  • #12
Aluminum foil is actually really good, as long as you avoid tearing it. That's why I switched to mylar....but mylar (at least mine) lets some light through. I can see the bulb throu the stuff, but it's kindof cool to examine it comfortably.

The most durable would probably be mirrors?
 
  • #14
I use black and white. It's slightly less reflective than mylar, but cheaper! :D

Here's a pic of one of my grow shelves that i lined with it. It's a lot brighter than the picture makes it out to be.


That is the stuff, "panda film" it is called. This is way better to use than any crinkly or surfaced material.
Crinkly, like foil, mylar etc... will "shred" the light into many very bright spots, and many dark spots. This is not good for even lighting on the leaves. It has been reported (rarely) to cause heat damage to leaves of cannabis.
Rough surfaces, like rolled on paint and the like...just absorb the light by reflecting it back upon itself before it "escapes" the surface texture. Which results in light loss.
By far the best a person can do, is to use a high titanium white FLAT spray paint. This will give the best reflectivity with the least amount of light loss during the process.
happy reflecting!
 
  • #16
Yeah, it does let light through - but it's much like you can see through a one-way mirror... the reflective side is still highly reflective. The scratches - yeah, it does scratch pretty easily. Ya got me there.

I believe there is a thicker version at the place I linked to but it's correspondingly more expensive.
 
  • #17
To answer the mylar question at walmart
-
No we do not sell rolls of mylar, but as someone pointed out we DO sell "emergency" blankets or "space blankets" as others call them, which is just a mylar sheet, in my sporting goods department, the company who makes them that we have, is called Ozark Trail.
i use mylar on my tank and have not had a problem with it. its just a pain to keep straight and wrinkle/scuff free... but if you can manage to keep from moving it around or having prying hands play with it, it is great stuff...

Mylar burning cannabis, sorry but these plants are certainly not cannabis, which i have experience with growing (legally of course, when i was a designated grower for a family member i shall not name for security reasons). And even then, I never had a problem with mylar causing leaf burn on them, if the plants are kept well hydrated and the light source at the right distance, there should be no reason for the mylar itself to cause any form of leaf burn to the plants... more likely the problem would be the heat from the lights, and how mylar (holding in more light) will keep it a wee bit warmer, drying out the plants faster than normal and boom, brown leaves...
 
  • #18
The most durable would probably be mirrors?
I actually wanted at some point to have mirror-walls for my triangular tank. I asked the glassworkers to coat the glass with silvering. They said it wouldn't work that way. One of my crazier ideas, I suppose.

I've seen both mylar and panda white, under different names of course. Mylar is better, but still didn't completely satisfy me. (I've actually reversed it and used the black side for some time. It's a cheap aquarium background, too.) I wonder if there's any kind of reflective material that would match a mirror?
 
  • #19
I just ordered thick white foam boards at Walmart. I'm planning on covering one side with aluminum foil and when placed on the walls of the tank the foil would be facing in towards the plants.

Thoughts?
 
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