School me on 3D printed xr30 light covers.

[Turkeysammich]

If you 3D printed a xr30 light cover. Which one did you like the most. I don’t really need it for light shade / light bleed over the sides of the aquarium. I was thinking more of a diffuser style. I’ve looked all over for the simple design but I couldn’t find it. Just the lamp looking ones. Here’s my link set up. Thoughts ? I just don’t want to 3D print 6 of them for weeks then have it suck. Lol.

Thanks Will

 

[H2OPlayar]

I just don’t want to 3D print 6 of them for weeks then have it suck. Lol.

Print 1 and see if it sucks

 

[Patio]

What do you mean by diffuse style?

I got these late December. I like that they do not cover much of the light, just the four corners. Seemed pricey to me but I was getting yelled at for not having much on the christmas list this year (its weird being over 40 and in-laws demanding xmas lists...) Ended up liking them more than I anticipated.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1676689088/ecotech-radion-xr15-light-shade-g6g5g4?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_ps-c-pet_supplies&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiA9IC6BhA3EiwAsbltOBbv7bJU32KnfK8txra6Q1xfbE9NYCUDlwuRlouWOY6QzfQg2Av4gRoCt20QAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_21802014166_169566856718_716586688551_pla-314535281500_c__1676689088_12768591&utm_custom2=21802014166&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9IC6BhA3EiwAsbltOBbv7bJU32KnfK8txra6Q1xfbE9NYCUDlwuRlouWOY6QzfQg2Av4gRoCt20QAvD_BwE

 

[Srt4eric]

I just printed a set of four for @Arvin R

 

[Srt4eric]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4982443

 

[Turkeysammich]

I was thinking something like this.

Was thinking it would be better light blend.

 

[H2OPlayar]

My gut says you wont get a good diffusing effect prom a printed material, but maybe there is some new technologies I am not privy to.

My thought would be get a thin sheet of acrylic and then chemically etch it with acetone to get the cloudy effect. Then stick that to the underside using the printed frames above.

 

[Turkeysammich]

These are the ones that came with Matt’s aquarium. I was thinking I could just source the plastic sheet from Amazon but I haven’t researched it yet.

 

[Darkxerox]

View attachment 67180
These are the ones that came with Matt’s aquarium. I was thinking I could just source the plastic sheet from Amazon but I haven’t researched it yet.

I think I have some of that diffuser material at home, I'll check

 

[Austin S]

Pretty curious about the benefits of diffusers. Do they help to eliminate shadows/hotspots? How much is par typically reduced?

 

[derek_SR]

Pretty curious about the benefits of diffusers. Do they help to eliminate shadows/hotspots? How much is par typically reduced?

Telegraham or someone did some testing once, I don't think they really do a whole lot besides reduce PAR a little and eliminate some of the disco ball effect.

 

[Arvin R]

Only reasons I see to use diffuser is if the light is positioned so that you constantly have direct line of sight to the LEDs, or if you are trying to eliminate the discoball effect. Aside from that there really should be no reason to use a diffuser.

One last scenario is specifically for Ai primes, if I run these lights then I remove the factory lens and run a printed light shade with diffuser so I never have to worry about burning the lens and overheating LEDs due to the lens burn which Ai primes are so known for.