Reflector tunnel

I like light rails. I like the way they cover more area and I like the way light hits the plants at infinite angles. I believe these angles result in greater penetration. Envision a light passing over a leaf - it shines underneath it as well as on top of it.

Anyway, in trying to come up with the best light arrangement for use with a rail, I began thinking. Why not buy reflective sheets and just build a giant reflector tunnel on the ceiling?

That way one could just suspend bulbs from the rail and let the bulb traverse inside the reflector. This could even serve as a vertical + horizontal setup giving the best of both worlds.

Envision two rows of 9 large plants. The rail is in between the rows with the bulb just lower than the tops of the plants (inside the natural V shape). On the outside of the two rows are large reflective panels on a 45 deg or so angle so that the light reflects down from the other side.

This would be like a huge hood with the plants growing up inside it. If one had three rows they could even use two bulbs like this:


/ ^ () ^ () ^ \

Where ^ = rows and ()= bulbs.

And one can get as elaborate as one wants. One could even build a pentagon shaped tunnel that would reflect light up as well. And the panels are cheep and light weight. I found foam panels with dimpled aluminum at Lowe's, or one could make them from Mylar.

What do you think?

Nobody has an opinion on this?

If heat's not an issue I think you got something there. But making a mega-hood like that might be a bit more daunting than you think, if you try to avoid hotspots and such. Good theory though. That's outside the box!

Thanks DC. Heat won't be an issue because it will be like 8' wide. Hot spots shouldn't be an issue because it is easy to tell how the light will reflect. All you need is a pen laser and some knowledge of physics. Really, it would just be a rectangular shaped room with something like 2' wide placed at 45 deg. reflective panels along where the ceiling and wall meet with bare bulbs. If a ray of light hits the 45 deg angle dead on it will go straight down. I can't think of more even spread out lighting than using the entire ceiling as a reflector. Plus, I would a light mover with something like 3) 600W HPS lamps in a row.

RickWhite said:

Thanks DC. Heat won't be an issue because it will be like 8' wide. Hot spots shouldn't be an issue because it is easy to tell how the light will reflect. All you need is a pen laser and some knowledge of physics. Really, it would just be a rectangular shaped room with something like 2' wide placed at 45 deg. reflective panels along where the ceiling and wall meet with bare bulbs. If a ray of light hits the 45 deg angle dead on it will go straight down. I can't think of more even spread out lighting than using the entire ceiling as a reflector. Plus, I would a light mover with something like 3) 600W HPS lamps in a row.

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Try it man. It's like a hybrid vertical/stadium/horizontal grow. I like it, and it would definetly work. Ofcourse you'd need the right strain that wasnt TOO bushy but i think its a very interesting idea. Im sure it would need some major tweeking after being setup but eventually w/ the right strand and the right angles, once your dialed in youll probably do well. Hopefully well see some pics one day?